LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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DOOMED RELIGIONS: 

31 Sews of 

ESSAYS ON GREAT RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD; 



WITH A 



PRELIMINARY ESSAY ON PRIMORDIAL RELIGION, 



AND A 



SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY 



ON 



LIFELESS AM) CORRUPT FORMS OF CHRISTIANITY. 



. EDITED BY 

REV. J. M. REID, D.D., LL.D., 

Corresponding Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, 

AT WHOSE REQUEST THE ESSAYS WERE PREPARED. 



NEW YORK : 

PHILLIPS & HUNT. 

CINCINNATI : 

WALDEN & STOWE. 



U ? 7 



LS« 



-P 



Copyright, 1884, by 
PHILLIPS & HUNT, 

New York. 



EDITOE'S PREFACE. 



THIS is, in effect, a book on the great religions of 
the world. True, it was not conceived with so 
broad a purpose, yet the very attempt to uncover the 
forces against which we have arrayed ourselves in 
many lands, by establishing Christian missions, re- 
veals, in a general way, the errors and superstitions 
of the whole human race. It is truly wonderful how 
alike are the forms into which the beliefs and worship 
of men stray when they are left unhelped and un- 
guided by the holy oracles. But we mean more than 
this, for there is really not one of the giant systems 
of religious error in the world to which these essays 
do not give attention. 

The particular method we have adopted in the pro- 
duction of this book has the advantage of giving us 
the testimony, the experience, the hopes, and the fears 
of those who have been eye and ear witnesses of that 
of which they write. The author of each essay is 
a devout believer in the Bible, and consequently no 
theories are broached that in the slightest degree 
contravene the teachings of the inspired volume. 
This work is not intended to be exhaustive, but 



4 Editor's Preface. 

rather a sort of first book on comparative religions, 
and to lead into channels of thought and public ad- 
dress on Christian missions which at present are too 
much neglected. Those who would have a prof ounder 
knowledge on the various subjects of these essays 
must consult the numerous excellent works on each 
distinct subject that are happily now so numerous. 
Such studies will amply recompense those who pur- 
sue them, and the list of books appended to the 
present volume may be helpful to them. 

In selecting the subjects of essays the editor in- 
tended chiefly to serve the cause of missions, and in 
a like spirit the writers have responded to his call. 
He trusts they will be rewarded for their very able 
papers by an extensive and appreciative reading. 
His own part in the volume has been very humble, 
largely one of correspondence, proof-reading, etc., 
etc. Even for the preliminary essay he claims no 
originality, having freely used the authorities at his 
hand. It is his joy to have supplied, in the very 
best way, a long-felt want ; and he sends out these 
treatises, confident that they will be of great interest 
and service to a large class of intelligent Christians. 

J. M. Eeid. 



CONTENTS. 



M* 

Page 

The Primordial Religion . . 7 

By Rev. J. M. Reid, D.D., LL.D., Corresponding Secretary 
of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Mohammedanism , 24 

By Ram Chandra Bose, M.A., of the North India Mission of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Brahmanism 116 

By Rev. T. J. Scott, D.D., President of Barkilly Theological 
Seminary of North India. 

Parseeism 198 

By Rev. J. M. Thoburn, D.D., of the South India Conference 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Buddhism 243 

By Erastus Wentworth, D.D., late Missionary of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church to foochow, China. 

Taoism 285 

By Rev. Virgil c. Hart, B.D., Superintendent of the Central 
China Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Shintoism 340 

By Rev. R. S. Maclay, D.D., Superintendent of the Japan Mis- 
sion of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Confucianism 378 

By Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D., late Superintendent of Foo- 
chow Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Lifeless and Corrupt Forms of Christianity 420 

By Rev. C. H. Fowler, D.D., LL.D., Corresponding Secretary 
of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

List of Books on the Subjects of the Preceding 
Essays 455 



DOOMED RELIGIONS. 



THE PRIMORDIAL RELIGION. 



BY EEV. J. M. EEID, D.D., LL.1X 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE 
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

IT was the hypothesis of M. Comte, the author 
of " Positive Philosophy," that the primitive, 
religions state of mankind was one of the merest 
fetichism. From this point of degradation it is sup- 
posed the race has advanced through the classic 
mythologies, the teachings of eminent moralists, such 
as Solon, Lycurgus, Zoroaster, and Confucius, and by 
the leading of such religious reformers as Christ, Mo- 
hammed, and Buddha, till that highest evolution of 
religion that we call Christianity has at length been 
attained. According to this theory we may appre- 
hend yet other changes in religious thought and life, 
till some of the most sacred and cherished beliefs 
of Christians of the present may also be numbered 
among the errors and superstitions of the by-gone. 
Thinkers of this school naturally regard heathenism, 
from its lowest forms to its highest, but as so many 
outreachings of the human mind after the true, the 



8 Doomed Religions. 

good, the invisible, and the divine, each ascending a 
loftier round in the ladder, which reaches from earth 
to heaven, and discovers to us God and eternity. 

It appears to us that the simple, direct narrative 
of the Bible necessarily involves a theory diamet- 
rically opposite to this. If we do not misconceive 
the story, the great Jehovah revealed himself, his 
character, his will, and his true worship to our first 
parents. The world began with the loftiest and 
purest style of worship. The polytheism of after 
ages was a corruption of the primitive, universal, 
true religion of the invisible, every-where-to-be- 
adored Jehovah. If the Bible be true, then the 
present exalted religious condition of mankind can- 
not be due to development from blank atheism, as 
the positivist affirms, but to a revelation of the one 
true God, and to divine helps, without which the 
morals and religion of the race must have sadly and 
continually deteriorated. 

The sacred story is very brief and direct, bearing 
upon its face no anxiety to establish a claim to pri- 
ority, or to pronounce upon the incapacity of all 
religions but that of Jehovah to conserve the best 
interests of mankind. Yet the history as presented 
is one of constant downward tendency in our fallen 
race, counteracted as continually by a force from 
without that was spiritual and divine, which, by its 
mighty energy, as we now behold, has at length 



The Primordial Keligion. 9 

begun to assert itself as master of the world's treas- 
ure, the world's enterprise, the world's intellect, and 
the world's heart. 

The tale is very familiar : Man began his career 
in fellowship with God ; but it was not long before 
he was a sinner, fleeing before that God whose 
society had so lately been his chief delight. Next 
we find him repentant, trembling, praying, and the 
subject of a cheering promise, training his children 
to be worshipers of the invisible God. But, at the 
very altar of sacrifice, one of the first two that were 
begotten became a fratricide. Sin grew with fright- 
ful luxuriance, till " God saw that the wickedness of 
man was great in the earth, and that every imag- 
ination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil 
continually." Then He opened the tides of sea 
and sky, and at one dread stroke swept away this 
worse than Augean filth, leaving none but righteous 
on the face of the earth. 

With so fair a start once more, and the added 
admonitions of the deluge, we might antecedently 
have well supposed that righteousness would have 
maintained its ascendency. But the spreading race, 
out upon the plains of Shinar, soon attempted to 
build a wall against God, and he scattered them, 
like feathers, before the wind. But they did not, 
even then, betake them to his law and worship. On 
the contrary, they began to seek other gods, and to 



10 Doomed Religions. 

serve graven images, and the prevalence of idolatry 
became, at length, well-nigh universal. Deteriora- 
tion, not development, was the law of these ages. 

The great Ruler of the universe, jealous of his 
divine rights and prerogatives, now resorted to a 
most remarkable expedient, evidently, to save the 
world from utter ruin. He inclosed his truth for 
safe keeping in a little nation, as in a crypt, about 
whom was built a strong wall of ceremonies and 
requirements, so peculiar and segregating in their 
character that they assured the distinctness of this 
people from all the nations of the earth and their 
idolatries. So deeply cut was the line of demarca- 
tion, that all the centuries that have elapsed since 
have not been able to efface it. The Jews, whether 
sojourners, or dwellers in foreign lands, and even 
when songless in their captivities, were kept more 
distinct from the people around them than could 
have been done by the sternest inhibitions of India 
caste, and so they yet remain. Within this high 
fence God undertook the religious culture of this 
chosen people. There were lessons of purity and 
duty in the food they ate, the raiment they wore, 
the dwellings they occupied, the holidays they kept, 
the songs they sang, and in almost every passing 
hour and day and week and month. Jehovah kept 
himself ever before them, being almost perpetually 
visible as their lawgiver and ruler. His presence as 



The Primordial Beligion. 11 

their captain made them victors in battle, and in his 
absence they were routed. He seems never, for a 
moment of all their history, to have intermitted or 
relaxed his efforts to maintain his supremacy over 
them. But did the Jewish people grow better under 
this discipline? If the Bible be true, with many 
alternations, they waxed worse and worse, till their 
civil polity and religious system became doomed to 
destruction. 

Up to this hour in our tracings of the world's 
history, the Bible account of religion gives no sup- 
port to the theory of the positivist. Two thousand 
years ago, when the Christian era began, the world 
was comparatively without progress in religion. At 
that moment, in the mid ages, God's great effectual 
remedy for the evils that infest mankind was re- 
vealed in the person of Jesus Christ, and the sub- 
lime conflict began to make His dominion universal. 
Since then the handful of corn in the top of the 
mountain has become like a forest of Lebanon : a 
state of things not developed from the old false 
faiths, but even in spite of them, the very seed 
being an exotic, wafted from the skies. This last, 
best remedy for the world's ills was the only one 
sufficient to make headway against such fearful odds. 
The progress even of Christianity has not been un- 
varying. The downward tendencies of our race 
have not been without effect, and the antagonisms 



12 Doomed Religions. 

of false faiths have had periods of triumph. An 
occasional retreat is not a defeat, but often the 
promise of a new advance. 

Professor George P. Fisher, of Yale College, in 
his work on the " Supernatural Origin of Christian- 
ity," has well observed : " Comte's well-known de- 
scription of the stages of human progress, of which 
the first is the Mythological, the next the Meta- 
physical, and the last the Positivist, though at the 
first sight it strikes one as ingenious, will not bear 
the historical test, and is, moreover, vitiated by an 
underlying fallacy. There is no proof that the prin- 
cipal nations of the Indo-Germanic and the Semitic 
stocks ever practiced fetich-worship, or were ever 
enslaved by the lowest types of mythological relig- 
ion, or ascended from them to somewhat higher. 
All the proof is the other way. There is no proof 
that mankind were originally on the lowest stage of 
religious knowledge and feeling. Apart from reve- 
lation, even, the hypothesis of a fall and degrada- 
tion from a primitive state which was morally more 
elevated is equally rational, and, in our judgment, 
far better sustained, than the supposition of a gradual 
ascent from a moral and spiritual life little superior 
to that of the brutes. The phenomena of conscience, 
which the philosopher has no right to overlook, sus- 
tain the Christian hypothesis, and are incompatible 
with its opposite, while the existence of a law of 



The Pkimokdial Religion. 13 

progress such as the antichristian theory assumes, 
cannot be distinctively established, but is rather dis- 
proved by the facts of history and observation. 
Comte's imaginary law of succession is inconsistent 
also with facts in one other particular. The three 
eras, to use his own phraseology, the Mythological, 
in which personal deities are believed in ; the Philo- 
sophical, in which notions, such as essence, cause, 
and the like are substituted for them ; and the Posi- 
tive, or era of facts, are not found to succeed each 
other in this fixed order. Comte allows, to be sure, 
that one may overlap the other ; but this concession 
falls short of the truth. Who will venture to affirm 
that a metaphysician like Hegel belongs to an earlier 
era of intellectual progress than his contemporary, 
Comte ? In the case of the former there is not 
only the supposed advantage of living in the same 
advanced period with the latter, but of being im- 
mensely superior in mental power and in the range 
of his acquisitions. "Who will affirm that Kepler 
and Newton believed in God, either for the reason 
that positivism had not been announced, or because 
they were too unphilosophical to receive it ? Skep- 
ticism and disbelief in the supernatural are not pe- 
culiar to modern times. They have appeared and 
re-appeared in the world's history ever since men 
began to speculate. This generalization of Comte 
is, therefore, hasty and incorrect. 



14 Doomed Religions. 

"But a most glaring error connected with this 
theory of Comte is the assuming that the mytholo- 
gies sprung from the scientific or intellectual motive. 
The mythological epoch is announced as the earliest 
effort of the human mind to explain the changes 
occurring in nature. The religious motive, the in- 
stinct of worship, the yearning for the supernatural 
and divine, is, for the most part, or wholly, left out 
of the account. How strangely superficial this view 
of the religions of the world is, no thoughtful scholar 
needs be told. As if religion, with all its tremendous 
power in human feeling and human affairs, were sim- 
ply a form of knowledge, the crude offspring of cu- 
riosity. Were the positivist to look deeper into 
human nature and history he would see that religion, 
even in the perverse and corrupt forms of it, rests 
on other foundations ; and this perception would 
uncover the groundlessness of his whole hypothesis. 
For if the religions of the heathen have their root 
in the constitution of the soul, and spring from in- 
eradicable principles in our nature, it follows that, 
although they may pass away, religion will not cease, 
but will survive with wild outgrowth in a life undy- 
ing as the soul itself. The advancement of science 
has no more tendency to extirpate religion than it 
has to extirpate morality. A better understanding 
of nature may enlighten religion and tend to purify 
it from certain errors, but destroy it — never. One 



The Primordial Eeligion. 15 

might as well contend that the progress of art tends 
to annihilate the sense of beauty, or that clearer and 
truer perceptions of the family relation tend to erad- 
icate the domestic affections." — Pp. 545-548. 

Too much stress cannot be laid upon the analysis 
here implied of human consciousness in regard to 
the idea of a God, and of right and wrong, and, 
necessarily, of the origin of religion. Religion is so 
universal, and has entered so profoundly into human 
experience as to forbid us to concede that it owes its 
origin to mere speculation or tradition. Belief in a 
God may be rather supposed to have its foundations 
in the stirring sensibilities of the human soul. This 
alone sufficiently accounts for its universality. If its 
universality is ever perchance denied, the denial is 
based upon exceptions so few, and with characteris- 
tics so faint, that we may regard them as a deflection 
from man's normal moral condition. The religious 
feeling, it cannot be denied, may be susceptible of 
decay, as the conscience is of being enfeebled or cor- 
rupted, and, in effect, destroyed; but the ruins that 
remain attest its original character. 

As there is a consciousness of the Ego, and a 
consciousness of externality, so, the German writers 
claim, there is a God-consciousness (Gottes-bewus- 
stein) and an instinctive attraction of the soul to 
communion with God, or worship. This view of the 
subject is almost universal among German writers 



16 Doomed Religions. 

of note, and it must not be ignored in any honest 
search for the genesis of prevailing religions. The 
original notion of God, implanted by our Mater in 
the human soul, was a true witness, and responded 
at once to the revelation that, in the beginning, God 
gave of himself and to all his after-teachings. It is 
the perversion of that notion that has led to all the 
false faiths of the world. Dr. M'Cosh, in his work 
on " The Intuitions," denies that the idea of God is a 
separate intuition, but acknowledging that it is native 
to man, he claims that it springs up spontaneously in 
the human heart, for he thinks it not incapable of 
analysis, and that it may be resolved and accounted 
for; that it is the proper issue of a number of simple 
principles, and, therefore, not a simple intuition. 
Even this view, as all will perceive, will satisfy the 
requirements of our argument as fully as the Ger- 
man view. 

Richard "Watson calls attention to the fact that 
there is no allusion to the existence of atheistical sen- 
timents till some ages after the time of Moses, and 
that the inspired writers continually assume God's 
existence as familiar to man, and fully acknowledged. 
The authors of the Old Testament attempt no proof 
of it. He therefore concludes that it must have 
come down from the very earliest ages. Had it been 
the product of investigation and deduction we might 
have expected some intimation of that fact, and 



The Primordial Eeligion. 17 

of the great sage to whom the world was so much 
indebted. 

Traces of a primordial religion lie as distinctly 
along the pathway of the ages as do boulders along 
the line of the wave-course. Indeed, there is a strik- 
ing resemblance on the part of numerous false relig- 
ions to the original true one, so much so as to suggest 
their common origin, or compel us to believe, as the 
only possible alternative, that men of all lands and 
of all degrees of culture have fallen with wonderful 
unanimity upon not only moral principles, but facts 
of divine economy that are nearly identical. Faber, 
in " The Origin of Pagan Idolatry," says : " The 
various systems of pagan idolatry in different parts 
of the world correspond so closely, both in their evi- 
dent import and on numerous points of arbitrary 
resemblance, that they cannot have been struck out 
independently in the several countries where they 
have been established, and must all have originated 
from a common source. But if they all originated 
from a common source, then either one nation must 
have communicated its peculiar theology to every 
other people in the way of peaceful and voluntary 
emulation, or that same nation must have communi- 
cated it to every other people through the medium of 
conquest and violence ; or, lastly, all nations must, in 
the infancy of the world, have been assembled togeth- 
er in a single region, or a single community must in 
2 



18 Doomed Religions. 

that state have agreed to adopt the theology in ques- 
tion, and must thence, as from a common center, 
have carried it to all quarters of the globe." The 
first of these is incredible ; the second, impossible. 

To begin with the personality of God, we find very 
satisfactory traces of monotheism prior to polythe- 
ism. Bishop Leng says, in his " Boyle Lectures : " 
" We may, indeed, trace particular forms of idolatry 
to their first original, but to a time when men be- 
lieved in no God at all we cannot come : we may go 
back to the deification of imaginary deities, but the 
higher we go the nearer we shall come to the orig- 
inal notion of the true God." And Aristotle ob- 
serves : " That there are these gods, and that the 
deity contains all nature, are notions that have been 
delivered down by primitive and ancient man and 
left to posterity wrapped up in the dress of fable ; 
but that other things have been fabulously added to 
persuade the multitude, and for the benefit of law 
and public utility. Further say they, that these gods 
are of human shape, and are like some other animals, 
etc. ; from which, if a man should separate and take 
only that which was first and original, namely, that 
they thought gods were the first beings, he might 
well think it divinely spoken ; and that perhaps 
every art and science, being often found out as far as 
possible and lost again, these, their opinions, have 
been preserved as relics to this time." 



The Pkimokdial Keligion. 19 

From the essays that follow in this volume it will 
be learned that beneath the complicated system of 
Brahmanism there lies one invisible, self-created 
spirit, Brahm, from which all the other great dei- 
ties proceed ; that Buddhism was but a reaction from 
polytheistic Brahmanism, which it sought to reform, 
looking back, as a protest against Brahmanism, to 
monotheism ; that the Parsees originally regarded 
the now deified fire as the symbol of the one spirit- 
ual divinity, afterward called Ormuzd — subordinate 
deities were allow r ed, but this one was supreme; that 
Sin or Shin was probably the one primitive god of 
the Japanese, and gave name to their religion, Shin- 
tooism; that they found him in the powers of nature, 
in light and heat, and so personified him, at first as a 
duality, and afterward in every form needed or de- 
sired ; that the worship of deceased emperors, heroes, 
ancestors, etc., and other objects followed until the 
gods of Japan were numbered by thousands; and 
much more of a similar kind. 

~No religious history, excepting that of the Bible, 
extends farther into the misty past than that of 
Egypt ; and such glimpses as we get of the religious 
beliefs and worship of the prehistoric ages of this 
land furnish additional probabilities in support of the 
position we have assumed. Carved upon very an- 
cient monuments there are evidences of the early 
existence of idolatry, and it must even be conceded 



20 Doomed Religions. 

that some of these rocky pages tell of a primitive 
polytheism. But such records, however ancient they 
may be to us, were made long, very long ages after 
the time to which they refer, and during the inter- 
vening period there existed but few and imperfect 
means of perpetuating a knowledge of the state of 
society in primitive times. They must, therefore, 
be considered as containing nothing more than the 
general impressions of the age in which they were 
chiseled, of that still remoter age of which they speak. 
Even Manetho and Herodotus could only write tra- 
ditions that remained in their time of that long past 
period. These impressions and traditions must be 
subject to correction from the wonderful excavations 
and investigations of modern times. Remembering 
this, we need no apology for following the English, 
French, and Tuscan explorers, rather than the Prus- 
sian commission of 1842. Had Chevalier Bunsen 
done this he would not have fallen into his erroneous 
rendering of Manetho, or traced the Egyptian dynas- 
ties to a time anterior to the deluge of Noah. It 
would seem as if we of the present age may claim 
to know more of Egypt's earliest condition than did 
those who put upon stone those misleading repre- 
sentations. 

. An argument so sweeping in its conclusions as 
to set aside the Scriptures, and prove the primitive 
fetichism or idolatry of Egypt, is certainly to be rig- 



The Primordial Eeligion. 21 

idly questioned before it is accepted. More extensive 
volumes than ours must be examined by those who 
would fully comprehend that subject. The work of 
Canon Trevor on " Ancient Egypt," and that of Sir 
G. C. Lewis, entitled "Astronomy of the Ancients," 
should at least be consulted on these points. 

The pyramids are certainly among the earliest 
Egyptian monuments, and they are distinguished 
from all the less ancient works of Egyptian art by 
the entire and very significant absence of idolatrous 
figures or inscriptions. 

Canon Trevor says : " The gates, walls, columns, 
obelisks, of the later period, are profusely covered 
with such sculptures; but the pyramids, presenting 
so vast a surface, are entirely and most significantly 
plain. Neither have the most industrious explora- 
tions discovered any other testimony in their inte- 
rior. The first pyramid yields only the founder's 
name, with the hieroglyphics of ITneph, which we 
have seen to be the oldest appellation of the Creator. 
The second pyramid has neither figure nor symbol. 
In the third is found the epitaph of Mycerinus ; but 
this belongs to the age of Nitocris, and perhaps of 
Psammitichus." — Page 117. 

Kneph signifies either spirit or water, and the 
present legend is, that from his mouth came the egg 
that gave birth to all earthly things. Henca the egg 
is his symbol, as is also the snake, which, assuming 



22 Doomed Religions. 

the form of a ring, indicates eternity. Sometimes 
lie is represented with a snake holding an egg. It 
will at once be apparent how easy it was for an 
ignorant people in the lapse of ages to fall into the 
worship of the representative instead of the thing 
represented, or into the worship of reptiles. 

Kneph, or JSum, which appears on the monuments 
as the name of the ram-headed idol of Upper Egypt 
and Nubia, does not disprove the fact that it was 
originally applied to the true God. As such he 
is often referred to by the ancients. Plutarch in- 
forms us that some of the Thebans refused to pay 
the idolatrous imposts on the ground that they wor- 
shiped only Kneph, the spirit without beginning 
or end. 

Several additional points worthy of consideration 
are made by Canon Trevor with respect to the pyra- 
mids, all of which indicate the absence of idolatry at 
the time they were being erected. The founders 
of the two larger pyramids are described by the 
idolatrous priests as tyrants who shut up the temples 
and prohibited worship. Manetho says of one of 
them, " He was a despiser of the gods, and wrote a 
sacred book." 

But Mycenius is spoken of as a pious king who 
re-opened the temples and re-established religious 
rites. It would seem, therefore, as if in the one 
hundred and six years of the united reigns of the 



The Pkimoedial Religion. 23 

first two sovereigns there were no idolatries per- 
mitted, and that idolatry became prevalent during 
the reign of Mycenius. 

Again, the pyramids all face the points of the 
compass, an arrangement not known to Egyptian 
idolatries. The w r est was the abode of Osiris, but 
the openings of the pyramids are all toward the 
north, pointing to the constellation that contains the 
North Star of four thousand years ago, and the sar- 
cophagi were all placed north and south. The Osir- 
ian rites require all these things to be otherwise, and 
also require a lake or stream ; but nothing like it 
appears in or about the pyramids. All these indicate 
a change amounting to a revolution since the first 
pyramids were built. 

It seems that idolatry existed in the land of Chal- 
dea before Abraham, and that his ancestors, and even 
Terah, Ins own father, were idolaters ; for " Joshua 
said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of 
Israel, Your fathers dw r elt on the other side of the 
flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, 
and the father of Nachor: and they served other 
gods." Josh, xxiv, 2. 

We may conclude that one object of calling the 
father of the faithful out of the land was to deliver 
him from this evil. He found no interference with 
his building altars to the Lord in Canaan and calling 
upon his name. Corrupt as Sodom and Gomorrah 



24 Doomed Religions. 

were, no mention is made of idolatry as one of their 
sins. When the kings of Sodom went out to meet 
Abraham, Melchizedek, the king of Salem, is spoken 
of as " priest of the most high God," and he blessed 
Abraham in the name of that God, "possessor of 
heaven and earth." So that even centuries previous 
to the erection of the first pyramid there are indica- 
tions of the undestroyed existence of the religion of 
Adam and Noah in these lands. The Egyptians 
were a branch of that same race who settled in Egypt 
about the same time, making it probable that they, 
too, were monotheists. There are some reasons to 
believe that Horeb was known as the mountain of 
God before the manifestation to Moses, and that the 
demand to be permitted to go out there and worship 
was well understood by Pharaoh and the Egyptians ; 
and a zeal for their own worship may have mingled 
itself with their selfishness as the foundation for 
their opposition to the petition of Moses for his 
people. 

It will thus be seen that by far the most numerous 
and weighty considerations derived from the history 
and monuments of Egypt tend to confirm the Bible 
story of a primitive revelation of the true faith, and 
the theory that the idolatries of mankind are the 
corruptions of the original and genuine religion. 

IsTow we must hasten to speak of other lands. 

Dr. Legge says, in respect to China: "At the time 



The Primordial Keligion. 25 

of the Norman conquest of England there occurred 
one of those minor eras of the revival of letters and 
learning, so many of which are chronicled in Chinese 
history ; but the majority of the writers were com- 
mentators, who explained away most of the few allu- 
sions to the supreme God that had survived from 
the ancient classics. So often as this process was 
repeated, the nation settled deeper and deeper into 
ignorance of the true God. It may be doubted 
whether any other people in the world have so com- 
pletely lapsed into atheism as have the modern Chi- 
nese. In all that vast empire there is but one temple 
consecrated to the worship of the Supreme Deity, and 
but one worshiper, the emperor, who celebrates the 
pageant once a year. Before the time of Confucius, 
it is asserted, a very different state of things pre- 
vailed, and even for some centuries after him a 
higher form of worship was common among the 
people. The earlier conceptions of God have been 
preserved in the ancient odes and chronicles, like 
fossil witnesses of an order of things that has long 
been extinct. 

" These conceptions were so inwrought in the liter- 
ature which Confucius remolded and preserved, that 
he himself, who preferred to speak of heaven rather 
than of God, did not expunge them from his com- 
pilations. He left them standing as he found them 
to attest and reflect the earlier and purer beliefs. 



26 Doomed Religions. 

The classics which contain them are reverenced by 
the Chinese with an almost superstitious homage, but 
the great name which they preserve has with them 
become obsolete and meaningless." 

Commenting upon this state of things, a writer in 
the "New Englander" remarks: "A more painful 
spectacle could hardly be presented to the Christian 
philanthropist than this: of an infant people, des- 
tined to grow into the most populous of empires, 
starting on its long career equipped with the knowl- 
edge of God, and through all the forty, and perhaps 
fifty, centuries of its history thus far steadily im- 
proving its material condition with arts, inventions, 
and education, but as steadily letting go of those 
great moral forces by which alone it could success- 
fully grapple with the spiritual emergencies that 
must arise in all human life. Thus, century by cent- 
ury, the great empire has risen materially and sunk 
morally. The result is, civilization on the one hand 
and paganism on the other ; a life chained to a body 
of death ; an artificial glow which illumines the 
physical side of life, but throws no gleam of hope 
into the future world ; a society whose thrift is god- 
less, and whose conscience is dead." 

Pitiably true as this exhibit of the condition of the 
Chinese may be, and deep as may be the haze that 
has settled down upon their spiritual condition, the 
eye is poor indeed which cannot behold, far anterior 



The Primordial Religion. 27 

to existing idolatries and ignorance, the belief among 
the Chinese in one God. Every thing in their history 
points to their original faith as monotheistic. But 
there are not only distinct traces from the earliest 
ages of monotheism, but also of a much higher mo- 
rality, and of much of Scripture history. The story 
of the creation, of Eden, of the fall, of the deluge, 
of the incarnation, of the crucifixion, resurrection, 
and ascension, are all discoverable, not in an isolated 
case — for this would prove nothing to our purpose — 
but in numerous instances, which amount almost to 
a general incorporation of these truths with heathen 
errors. We meet, every-where, the doctrine of a 
divine triad — in Babylon, Egypt, and Persia. " Is it 
not truly astonishing," says George Smith, in his 
"Gentile Nations," "that the two oldest primitive 
nations, Babylon and Egypt, should not only have 
adopted the first pair with the promised incarnate 
Seed as their divine triad, but that after the lapse 
of so many ages such unmistakable proofs of this 
should yet remain to attest the certainty of the fact? 
That this was the case in Babylon, as in Egypt, can- 
not admit of a doubt ; or, if it existed, it would be 
dispelled by the significant terms, Only-hegotten Son. 
It is not merely as a son, a regal or a ruling son, but 
he is to be such a son as can have no equal, no par- 
allel — an only-begotten, divinely-promised Son." 
The Chaldean oracles are full of such teachings. On 



28 Doomed Religions. 

these points read Cary's " Fragments," and Renouf s 
" Religions of Ancient Egypt." There was to the 
Egyptian mind but one God in this threeness of 
persons. Yet how easy was it to glide into the idea 
of three gods, till a complete pantheon was erected, 
filled with Assur and Bel and Diana, the Sun, and 
various planets, and a whole retinue of grosser deities. 

Running through all nations and through all ages 
is the idea of an incarnation and of a sacrifice for sin. 
Dr. M'Cosh says, "There had been wrought, even 
into the pagan philosophical systems, a large body of 
truth, either springing from the native convictions 
systematized by the inherent sagacity of the mind, or 
derived from a tradition which had kept afloat a rem- 
nant of primitive truth." 

Numerous incarnations of deity will be noticed in 
the religions of which this volume treats. Still more 
numerous are the men to whom divine honors have 
been paid in different lands and periods. This is but 
another form of the idea of incarnation. Odin and 
Thor and Hercules and Apollo, etc., are examples, to 
say nothing of Alexander, Caesar, and others, who 
themselves aspired to divine honors. There is 
scarcely a heathen people among whom this idea in 
some form has not found place. Some of the most 
horrid features of heathenism are evidently but a 
perversion of the glorious primitive truth of an in- 
carnate Redeemer. 



The Primordial Religion. 29 

The worship of one man by another, formed as it 
is upon the idea of an incorporation of the divine 
upon the human nature, is so unnatural that it at once 
suggests some supernatural origin, and it being scat- 
tered through all nations indicates that it must have 
been a part of the primitive revelation of God to 
man. When our first mother saw her first-born son 
she cried out with joy, " I have gotten a man — 
the Lord ;" the man who was promised, and who was 
to undo the damage of her transgression. Age after 
age, as there appeared persons of extraordinary pow- 
ers and achievements, the world followed them and 
cried out, " We have gotten the man from Jehovah." 
Hero worship — all worship of human beings — is thus 
to be accounted for, and it cannot be readily account- 
ed for by any other hypothesis. 

Much of this is objectively correspondent to the 
subjective wants of the human heart — a response to 
inward groanings for relief. It is not improbable 
that at a very early period, in the absence of the ex- 
pected One, a tendency was developed to produce an 
ideal of him in wood or stone. Many hands in the 
image would represent his power, many eyes his 
knowledge, many feet his endurance, wings his swift- 
ness. Thus the distorted and hideous forms that 
idolatrous images bear may be explained. This may 
have been furthered, for all we know, by the charac- 
ter of the original revelation, in cases such as the 



30 Doomed Religions. 

Bible description of cherubim and the like. For, if 
similar to the one made by God to our first parents, 
it might certainly suggest to their descendants in 
their idolatrous hours the forms they actually made 
and worshiped. God was to be different from man, 
and yet man could not produce aught that was not 
like to himself, if it were intelligent, and how could 
he express the needful dissimilarity but by produc- 
ing a carved monster ? 

In some cases idolatrous peoples combined the 
forms of the lower animals with that of man, to 
represent the qualities the coming One was expected 
to possess. To separate the human from the other 
forms was in a little while an easy step, and it was but 
another step to leave the form of the animal for the 
worship of the animal itself. If this theory be the 
true one, the worship of the image preceded the wor- 
ship of the animal, and the veneration of animate 
objects is but a deeper depth in the unhappy declen- 
sion of the race. 

Familiarity with the worship of matter fashioned 
by men's hands soon led to the worship of unshapen 
matter. The rocks, in their grandeur ; the mount- 
ains, in their sublimity ; the sun, in its mysterious 
and distant glory ; and the wind, in its power ; each, 
in turn, became a deity. A tinge of pantheism 
seems to have mingled with the decadence of true 
worship. God was in every thing, and it was not 



The Primordial Religion. 31 

difficult for untutored minds to think that every 
thing was God. Indeed, the highest culture readily 
falls into this error. 

Some better minds worshiped some principle 
rather than an objeet. As the French deified reason, 
so others deified light, darkness, evil, good, etc. To 
account for what appeared in providence seemed to 
require many gods, and objects and persons were ac- 
cordingly deified to meet the demand. When the 
ultimate limit was reached, and there appeared in 
the world that which could not be ascribed to any 
recognized deity, altars were built " to the un- 
known God," and that amid people of Athenian 
scholarship and refinement. 

The whole history of bloody sacrifices, which is far 
too extensive for our chapter, and which is to be 
traced through all lands and periods, naturally leads 
to the conclusion that in all probability each crim- 
soned altar is but a feeble antitype of the one at 
which Abel sought to make propitiation for his sins. 
It will be observed that these striking resemblances 
found among many peoples to the inspired account 
of man's fall and redemption are by no means few or 
far between. 

George Smith, in his " Gentile Nations," indorses 
the views of Deane, in his "Worship of the Ser- 
pent," and by this double authority we are assured 
that the worship of the serpent was universal. It is 



32 Doomed Religions. 

found in Greek mythology, where the symbolical 
serpent was sacred to Saturn, Jupiter, Apollo, Bac- 
chus, Mars, JEsculapius, Rhea, Juno, Minerva, Di- 
ana, Ceres, and Proserpine. It is found in the the- 
ogonies of Egypt, Hindustan, and Mexico. Its wor- 
ship can be traced through Persia, China, Britain, 
Scandinavia, Italy, Illyricum, Thrace, Greece, Asia 
Minor, and Phoenicia. How could the universal idol- 
atry of such a creature arise ? The race quaked be- 
fore the dreadful enemy that had ruined it. They 
sought to appease his wrath and propitiate his favor 
by worship and oblations at his shrine or in his 
presence. 

The hypothesis which make the Bible facts, as 
chronicled in Genesis, the origin of all the idolatry 
of the serpent and devil-worship appears to us strik- 
ingly probable. But putting that story aside, noth- 
ing is apparent in the power of the serpent, or in his 
form or intelligence ; nothing, indeed, conceivable in 
him that could lead a creature of mental and moral 
caliber sufficient to worship, to adopt him as a god. 
Give conjecture its broadest wings, and see if you 
must not at last confess it impossible to espy another 
probable origin. 

We might travel into the region of eschatology 
and find there such striking resemblances to the 
Bible doctrine on this subject as would convince 
most minds that the doctrine of future rewards and 



The Primordial Religion. 33 

punishments must have had a common origin in 
a primeval revelation. But our tractate is not in- 
tended even for so much as a treatise on the primi- 
tive religions, but merely- to suggest a line of 
thought and of investigation of deepest interest to 
biblical students which would be a fitting introduc- 
tion to the chapters of false religions that are to 
follow. We pause, therefore, that our readers may- 
pass on to the instructive studies before them — a sort 
of first lessons in comparative religions. 

We should seek to know, in each case, not merely 
what beings are objects of adoration, and what 
doctrines are taught and believed, but also to com- 
prehend the system of morality taught, and the 
general effect of the prevailing religion upon the 
people. The religion which is genuine must be 
profitable for both worlds. If the religion of Jesus 
Christ gives to mankind a higher civilization, a purer 
morality, and a greater measure of blessedness, then 
thus far it has the advantage of all others. The na- 
tions to whom we are conveying the Gospel are de- 
manding proof of the superiority of our religion. 
They have a right to it. They can be made to see 
that it is transcendently above all others, and that 
Jehovah is the only true God, immortal, invisible, to 
whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 



34 Doomed Religions. 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 
+/ 

BY EAM CHANDRA BOSE, M.A., 

OF NORTH INDIA MISSION OP THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 
WITH A PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 



PREFATORY. 

IT is somewhat difficult to determine the total 
number of Mohammedans, but they are ordinarily 
estimated at about 160,000,000, of which 100,000,000 
are assigned to Africa. Mohammedanism is the pre- 
vailing faith of Northern Africa, and extends far 
down into the interior, and westward almost to the 
Atlantic coast. In Europe it is mostly confined to 
Turkey and the countries which were lately under 
the dominion of the sultan, among which is Bulgaria. 
The false prophet has nearly 7,000,000 adherents in 
Europe. Mohammedanism prevails also in Asiatic 
Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, Arabia, 
and Tartary. In India the Hindus are more numer- 
ous, but the census of the land reports 40,882,537 
Mohammedans. The last named are also found in 
Asiatic Russia, the Malayan Archipelago, and China. 
Of this people, and of the gigantic system of error 
which they have embraced, the following elaborate 
and instructive essay treats. In Christian lands it is 



Mohammedanism. 35 

usually called Mohammedanism, from the name of 
its founder, which signifies " The Prophet of God." 
But believers in the creed call it Islam, meaning 
" Full submission to God," and call themselves Mos- 
lems, or, " the people of the Islam." 

The life of Mohammed very naturally divides 
itself into three parts.* The first extends to the 
fortieth year of his age, a period during which he 
made no pretensions to a divine call. The prophet 
was born in Mecca, 570 A.D., and his legation (or 
imagined divine call) occurred A.D. 610. The 
second period extends from A.D. 610 to A.D. 622, 
when the Hegira (the flight from Mecca to Medina) 
took place. His career at Medina makes the third 
epoch, which terminated with his death at Medina, 
A.D. 632. At no two of these periods was he the 
same man. The impulses of his heart and the mo- 
tives that governed him differed in succession with 
each passing period. ISTo wonder that a variety of opin- 
ions exist in regard to a character that was in reality at 
least three characters at different stages of his history. 
With our essayist we are not willing to concede him 
purity of motive at any period, but the evil and the 
good were manifested in different proportions, the 
evil preponderating as the eras of his life passed on. 

Mecca, situated on the great caravan route from 
Yemen to Syria, was from time immemorial famous 

* Babu Bose makes two parts. This is only a little more precise. 



36 Doomed Religions. 

for the Kaaba,* and the neighboring places of pil- 
grimage, which were by local tradition consecrated to 
the memory of Abraham and Ishmael. The leading 
tribe had for many generations been the Coreish, 
which discharged the influential offices connected 
with the Temple and the pilgrimage, and was pre- 
dominant in the councils of the city. Mohammed 
sprang from the Bani Hashim, a noble, though at 
this time somewhat decaying, branch of the tribe 
His great-grandfather was married to a lady of 
Medina, and Mohammed was thus connected with one 
of the ruling families of that city, the Bani Khazraj. 
Abdallah, his father, was poor, and died on a mercan- 
tile trip to Syria shortly before his birth. His 
mother, Amina, according to the custom of Mecca, 
put the infant out to nurse with a Bedouin tribe ; 
and there the child remained for four or five years, 
acquiring the free habits and pure tongue of the 
nomad race. His foster-mother was alarmed by 
epileptic symptoms, which more than once attacked 
her charge, and finally induced her to relinquish it. 
About a year after, Amina took the lad to visit his 
relatives at Medina, but on the way home she died, 

* The name of the great temple given to it from the black stone 
worshiped there from early ages, said to have been presented to 
Abraham by the angel Gabriel, or to have been with Adam in Para- 
dise. It is, doubtless, a large serolite, the veneration for which arose 
in the original fetich worship of stones. It is about six inches by 
seven in dimension. 



Mohammedanism. 37 

so that in Lis sixth year Moliaramed was left an 
orphan. His uncle, Abu Talib, became his guardian, 
and to the day of his death faithfully discharged his 
trust. While yet a child, Mohammed accompanied 
his uncle on a mercantile expedition to Syria. The 
youth of Mohammed passed uneventfully. Abu 
Talib was poor, and, finding it difficult to provide for 
his nephew in addition to his own family, procured 
for him the commission from a rich widow to super- 
intend a trading caravan to Syria. Khadija, delighted 
with her agent's service, conceived a tender passion 
for him, and, though nearly forty, while he was but 
five-and-twenty years of age, became his wife. She 
bore him two sons and four daughters. Both sons 
died. The eldest, who survived two years, was called 
Casim, whence Mohammed's name of Abul Casim. 

In Mohammed's thirty-fifth year, the Kaaba, which 
had been dilapidated by a flood, was rebuilt, and 
when the sacred black stone had to be deposited in 
its place, the lot fell, as by a strange interposition, 
upon Mohammed (who, for his virtue and integrity, 
was called by his fellow-citizens, " The Faithful ") 
to undertake the task. Shortly after, Mohammed re- 
lieved his uncle, Abu Talib, of the charge of Ali, 
one of his sons, then five or six years of age. A 
strong attachment thenceforth bound together the 
two cousins; and twenty years after Ali married 
Fatima, -Mohammed's youngest daughter. Another 



38 Doomed Religions. 

close friendship was formed with Zeid, a slave belong- 
ing to Khadija, w T ho had been captured from a Chris- 
tian tribe. Him Mohammed, having freed, adopted ; 
and he was thenceforth called " Zeid, the son of 
Mohammed." 

Christianity was widely professed by the Syrian 
and border tribes, and there were some Christian set- 
tlements even in the heart of Arabia. The Gospel, 
therefore, was not altogether unknown at Mecca, 
though in an imperfect and garbled form. Four 
" Inquirers " are spoken of by tradition as in search 
of the " true religion," at that time expected to ap- 
pear. One of these was the aged Waraca, a cousin of 
Khadija, w T ho is said to have written out some parts 
of the Gospel ; and another Zeid ibn Amr, who is al- 
leged to have recognized in Mohammed the coming 
Prophet. Amid much of this sort of tradition, that 
is marvelous and evidently proleptic, w T e may per- 
haps discern the fact that in some quarters a spirit of 
inquiry had been aroused in the Arab mind. Whether 
stirred up by such influences, or arising within spon- 
taneously, it is certain that about the age of forty a 
new life was quickened in the soul of Mohammed. 
He had passed fifteen years, quiet and unobtrusive, 
in the bosom of his family, with nothing to distin- 
guish him (save, perhaps, a singular gravity and virtue) 
from other men. He now began to court solitude 
and meditation, and for the purpose would retire for 



Mohammedanism. 39 

some days at a time to a cave in Mount Hira, one or 
two miles distant from the city. Perplexed with the 
mysterious destiny of man and the failure of repeated 
revelations to enlighten the gross darkness shrouding 
the peninsula, he would fall into ecstatic reveries ; 
and at last he believed himself to be called to be a 
preacher of righteousness and a reformer of the peo- 
ple. On such occasions he seemed to see the vision 
of an angel, from whom he received the command 
(embodied in the Ninety-sixth Sura) to — 

" Recite in the name of the Lord who created — 

Created man from naught but congealed blood. 

Recite ! For the Lord is beneficent 

It is He who hath taught [to record revelation] with the pen: 

He hath taught man that which he knoweth not." 

The vision, we are told, was followed by a consid- 
erable period (the Fatrah) during which further reve- 
lations were withheld, and Mohammed, plunged in 
deep depression, thought to cast himself headlong 
from a height, but was held back by the same 
heavenly messenger. Shortly after this, as wrapped 
in his garments he lay stretched upon his carpet, 
the angel addressed him in these words : 

"0, thou that art covered! 
Arise and preach ! 
And magnify thy Lord ; 
And purify thy clothes ; 
And depart from uncleanness, 
And show not thy favors in the hope of aggrandizement. 
But wait patiently for thy Lord."— Sura, LXXIV. 



40 Doomed Religions. 

Here was now the commission to preach. Moham- 
med was constituted the messenger of the Lord and his 
Apostle, and thenceforward revelations began to fol- 
low with frequency, one upon another.* Such is the 
best view we have of the origin and gradual devel- 
opment of the idea of a divine commission in the 
mind of Mohammed. At this period there is about 
them an air of sincerity and enthusiasm that can 
scarcely be doubted, though it may also be said 
that they breathe nearest possible resemblance to 
paganism. He was evidently stirred by the deg- 
radation and idolatry of his people, and noted, with 
the pain of a deeply sensitive soul, the failure of 
those who had preceded him to meet the necessities 
of humanity. He also, without question, became 
acquainted, though very imperfectly, with Chris- 
tians and Christianity as they existed near the place 
of his abode, and wherever his early and frequent 
journeys led him. 

Some months before his assumption of the pro- 
phetic office Mohammed had been sharing the bur- 
den of his soul with the more intimate friends and 
relatives around him. Khadija was the first reposi- 
tory of his spiritual yearnings ; and at a time when he 
labored under the fear of diabolical influences, it was 
she who comforted him and brought the aged Waraca 
to re-assure his conviction of a divine mission. Grad- 

*Sir. William Muir's "CoraMi." 



Mohammedanism. 41 

ually there gathered around him a little band of de- 
voted followers. Ali and Zeid were among the ear- 
liest ; and also Abu Bekr, (popularly called Abdallah,) 
a faithful friend, through w T hose influence four others 
(including Othman) and several ransomed slaves, 
joined the little band of believers. 

As the teachings of Mohammed developed, and his 
assertions of the unity of God and rejection of idola- 
try became more uncompromising, the men of 
" Mecca began strongly to oppose him. They mocked 
the idea of a resurrection, derided his revelations, as 
the effusions of a frenzied poet, and began to perse- 
cute the faith. Mohammed himself was safe under 
the guardianship of Abu Talib. But those who had 
no such protection were hard pressed ; and a body of 
eleven men, some with their families, fled the 
country, and found refuge across the Red Sea, at the 
court of Abyssinia. Among these was Othman, 
with his wife Rockeya, the prophet's daughter."* 

"Assuming that his early longings after a more 
spiritual faith, and his searchings after God were 
earnest and real, the Christian scholar who contem- 
plates him at this, the turning point of his career, 
w T ill view with regret the melancholy result of his 
aspirations. For it is hard to believe that the spirit 
of Truth leaves in darkness and error the honest 
heart that looks to him for light. If Mohammed's 

*Sir W. Muir's "Coran." 



42 Doomed Religions. 

sole purpose had been the search after truth, if his 
eye had been single, the still small voice would doubt- 
less have suggested the way ; some Philip in his des- 
ert Gaza would have pointed him to the true Light ; 
the teaching, which the great Apostle to the Gen- 
tiles found in that land of Arabia, would have been 
his also, and Mohammed might have become a bright 
herald of the Cross to its idolatrous tribes. But the 
stealthy avenues of a worldly ambition blinded his 
mental vision, blunted his dependence on a higher 
power, and by the suggestions of the evil one took 
captive his soul and chained it in that delusive, yet 
strong and unwavering, belief which swayed his fut- 
ure career, and retained a permanent influence over 
him to the hour of his death, that he was ordained of 
Heaven, the messenger of God."* 

The progress of his mission was slow. In three 
years he had made but fourteen converts, though 
some of these were deeply devoted to their master 
and intensely earnest in their propagandism. In the 
midst of his persecutions he became despondent and 
sought to ally himself with the existing idolatries, as 
he did, also, at a later and more prosperous period 
with Judaism and Christianity. But it was not long 
before he professed to ascertain that the revelation 
which led to this step was from the evil one, and 
it was recalled. Through the influence of Abu 
♦Stobart's "Islam." 



Mohammedanism. 43 

Bekr, the almost despairing cause was shortly after 
this strengthened by the conversion of Abu-Oberda 
Hamja, the prophet's uncle, and the energetic and 
determined Omar and Othman. But these successes 
only increased opposition, the people and priests of 
Mecca, besides whatever religious grounds existed for 
their opposition, fearing that their city might cease 
to be the center of religious interest, and thus lose 
the benefit of the pilgrimages for which it was cele- 
brated. Mohammed's enemies became unrelenting 
and even demanded his person for punishment. 

Abu Talib with the other Horanites retired' to the 
quarters of Abu Talib, all intercourse between the 
Coreish and Moslems being suspended. Thus affairs 
remained for three years, the "prophet's" kinsmen 
mainly adhering to him, though some of them had 
little or no faith in his divine call. In the year 
620 A.D. Khadijah died, and shortly afterward, also, 
Abu Talib, and the effect was very dispiriting to him. 
But in two months afterward he married Sauda and 
became betrothed to Ayesha, the seven-year- old 
daughter of Abu Bekr. Having signally failed of 
success in Mecca he sought it abroad. With Zeid 
alone, he proceeded to Taif ; but his message was un- 
heeded, and he driven off wounded with stones. At 
the annual pilgrimage, 621 A.D., a few souls from 
Medina were won over to Islam, who increased the 
next year to twelve, and for several reasons the claims 



44 Doomed Religions. 

of the prophet were more readily received at Medina 
than at Mecca, and a teacher of the new faith was 
deputed to go there and spread the faith, in which 
he met with very great success. 

The few followers of Mohammed now remaining 
in Mecca at length fled from the city, and his own 
death was determined upon, and to effect it a deep-laid 
plot was secretly devised. Nothing remained for him 
but death or instant flight, and he accepted the latter 
alternative. At dead of night, accompanied by his 
faithful servant, Abu Bekr, he set out for Yatreb, sub- 
sequently named Medina, or the City of the Prophet. 
The fugitives lay hidden in the cave Thor for three 
days. Marvelous tales of their escape from discovery 
have been handed down. But sufficient for us to 
say that Abu Bekr, having brought camels, they set 
out on the fourth day after leaving Mecca and 
reached Medina twelve days afterward. The day of 
this flight marks the era of the Hegira, A.D. 622. 

The rivalry between Mecca and Medina ; the ex- 
pectation of a Messiah spread by the Jews, so nu- 
merous at the time in Medina; the Oriental bond of 
consanguinity, his mother being a native of Medina, 
and the converts already made in Medina, were, 
doubtless, all influential in turning the fugitives' faces 
toward Medina. His reception was comparatively 
enthusiastic, and the Hegira dates the beginning of 
his triumphs. 



Mohammedanism. 45 

" The flight to Medina changes the scene, and with 
it the character of the portions of the Coran there 
revealed. The idolaters of Mecca disappear, and 
their place is taken by the i hypocrites 5 of Medina. 
Here there was no open opposition either to Moham- 
med or his doctrines; but, nevertheless, a powerful 
faction was jealous of the stranger's advent, and an 
undercurrent of disaffection prevailed which not un- 
frequently appears upon the surface. The head of 
this party was Abdallah ibn Obey, who, but for the 
new turn in the fortunes of his city, was on the point 
of being its chief. The disaffected citizens continue 
the object of bitter denunciation in the Coran till 
near the close of the Prophet's career, when, before 
the success of Islam, they, too, vanish from the 
scene. 

" But the most prominent subject of discourse in 
the early Medina revelations is the Jewish people 
and their religion. At the outset Mohammed spared 
no endeavor to attach them to his cause. He dwelt 
upon the lives of their prophets and worthies, and 
sought, by recounting the interpositions of the Al- 
mighty in the land of Egypt, and elsew T here, to stir 
their gratitude, and induce them to publish the evi- 
dence in his favor w^hich he contended that their 
books contained ; but he failed. Excepting a few 
apostates, they refused to admit his prophetic claims. 
Disappointment soon ripened into enmity, and they 



46 Doomed Religions. 

who had been appealed to before as witnesses are 
now denounced as blind and reprobate, fit descend- 
ants of the people who killed their prophets and re- 
jected their Messiah. The Pentateuch and the Gos- 
pel are still appealed to ; but it more and more 
becomes the mission of Mohammed, in an ever-wid- 
ening circle, to bring back all those who had per- 
verted the doctrines of their sacred books to the old 
catholic faith. Abraham was neither Jew nor Chris- 
tian, but a true Moslem ; and the faith of Abraham 
was now at last recovered and perfected in the 
Coran. The Scriptures had foretold the coming 
Prophet ; the Jews recognized him as they would 
one of their own children ; but, perverted by bigotry 
and malice, they falsified their evidence. Their 
hearts were seared ; a ' thick covering ' enveloped 
them ; and the Suras of the period abound with pas- 
sages to enforce and illustrate this conclusion. 

" The first year of Mohammed's residence at Me- 
dina was chiefly occupied in building the great 
Mosque, and providing houses for himself and his 
followers, who for the first few months had been 
received into their homes and hospitably entertained 
by the citizens of Medina. The authority of the 
Prophet was at the outset recognized only by the 
professed converts to Islam ; but it gradually ex- 
tended, till soon he became virtual chief of the 
whole city. 



Mohammedanism. 4 7 

" The ritual for prayer, preceded by lustrations of 
a Jewish character, was observed from the first ar- 
rival of Mohammed ; but it grew rather out of his 
practice than by divine prescription. At the five 
stated periods of the day the believers were sum- 
moned by the Adzan, or call of the Crier, to a short 
service in the Mosque, which might also be per- 
formed elsewhere ; and Friday was set apart, though 
without the sacredness of the Jewish Sabbath, for a 
more general and solemn observance. But Friday is 
nowhere mentioned in the Coran, excepting at a 
later period, when the believers are chided for quit- 
ting the Mosque on the arrival of a caravan, and 
leaving the Prophet standing alone in the pulpit. 
At first Mohammed followed some of the Jewish 
fasts and festivals ; but his growing aversion from 
the Jews led to the establishment of separate insti- 
tutions, which, though of a kindred character, dif- 
fered from the Jewish both in time and circum- 
stance. At the beginning he worshiped like the 
Jews, toward Jerusalem ; but the Kibla, or direction 
of prostration at prayer, was now changed to the 
Kaaba. So, also, the fast of the Atonement was at 
first kept by Mohammed ; but in the following year 
the month of Ramadhan was ordained as a fast, pro- 
fessedly after the example ' of those who had gone 
before.' And, to mark a still further divergence 
from Judaism and approximation to the worship of 



4:8 Doomed Religions. 

Mecca, the Eed al Zoha, or slaying of victims, was 
observed at Medina on the same day as the corre- 
sponding rite at Mina, and in substitution for the 
Jewish rite of Sacrifice. 

" In the second year of the Hegira, with hostilities 
against the Coreish, there opens a new phase of the 
Coram Hitherto, as we have seen, Mohammed had 
declared himself to be a simple preacher. He was 
not the ' keeper' of the unbelievers. Even in 
Medina, at the beginning, there was to be ' no con- 
straint in religion.' But the principles of Islam 
gradually underwent a change. The caravans of 
Mecca offered a tempting opportunity for reprisals, 
and several expeditions were organized against them. 
In one of these, conducted under sealed instructions, 
the caravan, with two of the Coreishite convoy, was 
captured, and a citizen of Mecca killed, and this after 
the sacred month of Kajab had set in. Mohammed 
at first disowned the transaction as sacrilegious, and 
placed the prisoners and booty in bond ; but it was 
not long before a divine order, justifying hostilities, 
even in the sacred months, as less grievous than idol- 
atry and opposition to Islam, removed his scruples. 
Thereafter the Coran abounds with incitements to 
fight for the faith, and with warlike denunciations 
against the Coreish. 

" Mohammed now assumes the position of a theo- 
cratic ruler, and the Coran is freely used for making 



Mohammedanism. 49 

public his commands. Every word still purports to 
emanate from the Deity, as addressed to his Vicege- 
rent on earth. Spiritual precepts mingle with other 
matters, but the Revelation becomes more and more 
the organ of the Prophet's government. ' General 
orders 5 on victory or defeat, the disposal of booty 
and the treatment of prisoners, statutes of criminal 
law and civil rights, ordinances on marriage, slavery, 
and divorce, instructions descending even to the regu- 
lation of social life and intercourse, and of Moham- 
med's own domestic privileges, appear mingled indis- 
criminately with religious teaching in the pages of 
the Coran. 

" About eighteen months after the Flight the first 
pitched battle with the Coreish took place at Bedr. 
"With an axmy of 305 followers, (of whom two thirds 
were citizens of Medina,) Mohammed routed a force 
of three times the number, with great slaughter, and 
taking many prisoners. He thus not only struck 
terror into the Coreish, but effectually established 
his position of Chief of Medina. Here was an 
evident proof of his mission ; for it was by the 
divine interposition, and by the aid of angelic hosts, 
that the victory — or decision, as it is termed — was 
gained. 

" A twelvemonth later the Coreish had their re- 
venge. They advanced upon Medina 3,000 strong. 
Mohammed met them at Ohod, a hill three miles 



50 Doomed Religions. 

distant from the city, at the head of but 700 follow- 
ers, for his ranks had been thinned by the defection 
of Abdallah ibn Obey. He was signally defeated, 
with the loss of 70 men, including his uncle, Hamza ; 
and he himself w r as wounded and stunned. Still the 
hand of the Lord was manifest. Defeat was needed 
to sift the lukewarm from the true believers, and 
success, as before at Bedr, would be again vouch- 
safed. What if Mohammed himself had been killed ? 
The cause was of God, and would survive triumph- 
ant. And so, with masterly address, both victory 
and defeat were made to serve his purpose. 

" Shortly after the victory of Bedr, a difference 
having arisen between Mohammed and the Bani 
Caynocaa, one of the Jewish tribes settled in the 
outskirts of Medina, he invested their fortress. 
They capitulated. Their lives were spared at the 
prayer of their ally, Abdallah ibn Obey, but they 
were driven into exile. About a year and a half 
after Mohammed found occasion to pick a quarrel 
with the Bani Nadhir, another of the Jewish tribes, 
inhabiting a well-fortified suburb, surrounded by rich 
date-groves. After a siege of three weeks Moham- 
med accepted their offer to surrender lands and gar- 
dens to him, and leave the country. The LIX. Sura 
is devoted to the subject. The Prophet is there jus- 
tified in having broken the laws of Arab warfare in 
cutting down and burning the date-trees, and the 



Mohammedanism. 51 

disaffected party are taunted with their inability to 
assist their Jewish confederates. 

" In the fourth year of the Hegira there was no 
actual fighting. The leaders of the two armies at 
Ohod had appointed a hostile meeting to take place 
at the fair of Bedr the following year. Both 
marched forth. But the Coreish, harassed by 
drought, halted on the way and returned ; while the 
Moslems encamped eight days on the appointed spot, 
buying and selling at the fair. In the III. Sura, the 
divine satisfaction is signified at the result. 

" In the fifth year, during an expedition against 
the Bani Mustalick, a disloyal tribe, an altercation 
arose between the men of Medina and the refugees 
from Mecca. High words led to blows, and Abdal- 
lah ibn Obey began to taunt his people with having 
brought upon themselves this influx of insolent stran- 
gers. '"When we return to Medina,' he said, 'the 
mightier shall surely expel the meaner. 5 Moham- 
med, alarmed at the bold expression of so dangerous 
a sentiment, gave orders for a long and immediate 
march. Soon after the LXIII. Sura was revealed, 
with a bitter reprimand against Abdallah and his 
disaffected followers. 

" This year is remarkable for certain scandals con- 
nected with the domestic life of Mohammed. He 
had now five wives, two of whom had been but re- 
cently added to his harem. Nevertheless, he was 



52 Doomed Religions. 

smitten by the charms of Zeinab, wife of his adopted 
son, Zeid, who, seeing this, divorced her, that she 
might be married to his friend. Mohammed hesi- 
tated to take to wife one who, according to Arab 
custom, was of prohibited affinity. But the passion 
was irrepressible ; and at last a revelation was pro- 
duced which chided his fear of man ; ruled that 
adoption made no virtual affinity ; and, i that there 
might be no offense chargeable to believers in mar- 
rying the wives of their adopted sons,' joined the 
Prophet in marriage to Zeinab. 

" A few months later another delicate affair, but of 
a different complexion, occurred. On his various ex- 
peditions Mohammed was accompanied by one or 
more of his wives. At the last stage, returning from 
the campaign against the Mustalick tribe, Ayesha's 
tent and litter were by inadvertence carried away 
while she was for the moment absent, and on her 
return she found herself in the dark all alone. Ex- 
pecting the mistake to be discovered, she sat down 
to await the issue, when, after some delay, one of the 
followers came up, and, finding her in this plight, 
bade her mount his camel, and so conducted her to 
Medina. The citizens drew sinister conclusions from 
the circumstance. Mohammed himself became es- 
tranged from Ayesha, and she retired to her father's 
house. Several weeks elapsed thus, when at length 
the Prophet was supernaturally apprised of her in- 



Mohammedanism. 53 

nocence ; and the law was promulgated which re- 
quires four eye-witnesses to establish the charge of 
adultery, in default of which the imputation is to be 
punished as a slander. And so Ayesha was taken 
back, and her accusers beaten with stripes. 

" About this time certain commands were also 
issued for the veiling of women when they walk 
abroad, and for the decent regulation of social and 
domestic intercourse. These were more stringent in 
the case of the Prophet's own wives, who, in case of 
incontinence, were threatened with a double punish- 
ment. They were not as other women, and, more 
than others, were to abstain from being bland in 
speech, ' lest he indulge desire in whose heart is dis- 
ease ;' and, finally, the jealousy of Mohammed was 
allayed by the injunction that they should never 
marry again, even after his death. The obligation 
devolving on believers to consort equally with their 
several wives was also relaxed specially in the Proph- 
et's favor. 

" Toward the close of the same year the Ooreish, 
with an army of 4,000 men, again attacked Medina. 
Mohammed, resolved not a second time to hazard an 
engagement without the town, intrenched his posi- 
tion by a deep ditch, behind which he opposed the 
enemy. For fifteen days the siege was pressed, to 
the great alarm and peril of the city, when the host, 
wearied and pressed by stress of weather, suddenly 



54 Doomed Religions. 

decamped. Mohammed had hardly begun to lay 
aside his armor when he was visited by the angel 
Gabriel, with the command, ' Arise, and go forth 
against the Bani Coreitza. Behold, I go before thee 
to shake their walls.' This was the only Jewish tribe 
now left in the neighborhood. Charged with having 
listened to the overtures of the Coreish, they w T ere 
besieged by the Moslem army. After fourteen days, 
reduced to extremity, they surrendered at discretion. 
The men, to the number of 600 to 800, were delib- 
erately beheaded in parties, one after another, and 
the women (one of whom the Prophet reserved for 
himself) and the children were sold into slavery. 
These events are treated of in the XXXIII. Sura, 
where the alarm of the citizens, the cowardice of the 
' hypocrites, 5 the signal deliverance wrought by the 
Lord, and the destruction of the Jews, are graphic- 
ally described. 

" In the sixth year of the Hegira Mohammed con- 
ceived the project of peacefully visiting Mecca, to 
perform the rites of pilgrimage. Few of his Bed- 
ouin allies responded to the invitation. Neverthe- 
less, the cavalcade, arrayed in pilgrim garb, num- 
bered 1,500 followers. But the Coreish, suspicious 
of their design, opposed their entrance ; so they en- 
camped outside the sacred limits, at Hodeibia, where, 
after protracted negotiations, a truce was signed. 
Hostilities were suspended for ten years; all tribes 



Mohammedanism. 55 

were declared free to enter into treaty with Moham- 
med, and liberty was accorded to converts from 
Mecca to join him at their pleasure. The pilgrims 
were at once to return without entering Mecca, but 
permission was promised for the performance of the 
pilgrimage in the coming year. During the negotia- 
tions Othman had been sent as an envoy to the Co- 
reish, and, his return having been delayed, a rumor 
spread of foul play. The pilgrims crowded round 
the Prophet, as he stood under an acacia-tree, and 
enthusiastically pledged themselves to stand by his 
absent son-in-law. The stirring scene, known as ' the 
pledge of the tree, 5 is thus noticed in the XLYIII. 
Sura: ' Verily, God was well-pleased with the be- 
lievers when they pledged themselves under the 
tree.' In the same Sura the truce is termed ' an 
evident victory ;' and in effect it was a real triumph 
for Mohammed, because it recognized him as an 
equal and independent power. But his followers 
were disappointed ; and he allayed their chagrin by 
the promise of early conquest and abundant spoil 
elsewhere, a prospect from which, as the severest 
punishment for their lukewarmness, the backward 
Bedouins were excluded. In another Sura, revealed 
about the same time, the Moslems are warned against 
familiarity and friendship with the unbelievers, and 
rules are laid down for the treatment of such female 
converts as came over from Mecca ; the marriage 



56 Doomed Religions. 

bond between believers and their unbelieving wives 
who remained at Mecca was annulled, and the dower 
of the one was allowed to be set off against the dower 
of the other. 

" Before many months the promise of victory and 
spoil was amply redeemed by the campaign against 
the Jews of Kheibar, a territory several days' jour- 
ney north of Mecca, where a rich booty and ample 
domains were secured by Mohammed for himself and 
his followers. The seventh year of the Hegira passed 
otherwise uneventfully, and at its close the postponed 
pilgrimage was peacefully performed according to the 
treaty. 

" In the eighth year another scene took place in 
the Prophet's harem, which gave occasion to some 
strange passages similar to those revealed in the affair 
of Zeinab. In the previous year Mohammed had 
sent dispatches summoning the kings of the earth to 
the true faith. To none of these did he receive sat- 
isfactory response, excepting from Muckouckas, Gov- 
ernor of Egypt, who, among other gifts, forwarded 
two slave girls. Being sisters, only one (according 
to the Moslem law) was lawful to him, and he se- 
lected Mary. In the following year she presented 
him with a son, who died in infancy. The fondness 
of Mohammed for the Coptic maid was resented by 
his numerous wives, one of whom surprised him in 
her own room alone with Mary, and he promised to 



Mohammedanism. 57 

forego lier society if the affair were kept quiet. But 
the scandal could not be concealed, and Mohammed 
soon found his harem cold and estranged. He with- 
drew from their society, and for a month lived with 
Mary alone. A revelation appeared upon this occa- 
sion, chiding him because he had ' forbidden himself 
that which God had made lawful to him, out of de- 
sire to please his wives,' allowing him to abrogate 
his promise, and threatening his waives with the dis- 
pleasure of God and man. ' Haply his Lord, if he 
divorce you, will give him in your stead better wives 
than ye are — submissive unto God, believers, pious, 
repentant, devout, fasting — both women married pre- 
viously and virgins.' Whether Mohammed intended 
such passages to be perpetuated in the Coran we 
have not the means of determining ; but there is 
certainly nothing, either in tradition or in the Coran 
itself, which would lead to the supposition of his 
having been abashed at the frailty and licentiousness 
disclosed by these transactions, or was even conscious 
of the discredit attaching to them. 

" In this year the arms of Mohammed had a seri- 
ous reverse at Mdta, on the Syrian border, where his 
friend Zeid was killed. A new phase, however, now 
opened on Islam ; an indirect breach of the truce by 
the Coreish was eagerly challenged, and the Prophet, 
at the head of 10,000 men, entered Mecca as a con- 
queror. He treated the prostrate city with singular 



58 Doomed Religions. 

forbearance and generosity ; the whole population 
came over to his cause ; and in a few weeks we find 
the once hostile chiefs of the Coreish marching un- 
der the banner of Mohammed. The Bedouin tribes 
of the neighborhood were more stubborn. They 
rapidly concentrated at Taif, and an engagement 
took place iu the valley of Honein, wilich at the 
first threatened to be critical, for the ranks of Mo- 
hammed, as they defiled through the narrow pass, 
were thrown into confusion by an ambush of the 
enemy rushing wildly upon them. The Moslems 
rallied at the call, which touched a double chord, 
' Te men of the Sura Bacr ! Ye men of the tree of 
fealty ! ' * and, driving back the Bedouins, secured a 
complete victory, together with great spoil. After 
an unsuccessful attempt to carry Taif by siege, Mo- 
hammed divided the booty and turned homeward. 
To gain the hearts of the chiefs of Mecca, he, at the 
distribution, gave them special largesses from the 
spoil. This caused discontent among his older fol- 
lowers, whom he appeased by protestations of his 
regard, and of his resolve never to abandon Medina 
or return to live at Mecca. In the IX. Sura the spe- 
cial application of the booty is justified, the panic at 
Honein described, and the eventful success ascribed 
to angelic aid. 

* Sura II., the first revealed at Medina. The " tree of fealty ;" 
that is, Hodeibia. 



Mohammedanism. 59 

" Tlie power of Mohammed now overshadowed the 
Peninsula, and the ninth year of the Hegira is 
known as the ' Year of Deputations/ which poured 
in upon him from all quarters, to acknowledge his 
supremacy, and receive instruction in the require- 
ments of Islam — prayer, the giving of tithes, and 
fasting. Some of the visitors were rude sons of the 
desert ; and one party, on arriving at his door, called 
out in a loud voice for Mohammed to come forth. 
Courteous and condescending, Mohammed had still a 
just respect for his own dignity, and the occasion 
was not thought too inconsiderable for a revela- 
tion (Sura XLIX.) commanding that the Prophet 
should be addressed in a more courtly and submis- 
sive tone. 

" In the summer of this year occurred the expedi- 
tion to Tebuk, the last that was undertaken by Mo- 
hammed. It was intended to overawe the Syrian 
tribes, which had been stirred up by Roman influ- 
ence to assemble on the frontier. The lukewarm 
party at Medina, and even some of Mohammed's sin- 
cere adherents, afraid of the heat and discomforts of 
the march, held back ; w^hile others showed the ut- 
most alacrity, and contributed largely toward the 
equipment of the force. After a successful cam- 
paign, in which several Christian and Jewish chief- 
tains tendered their submission, Mohammed re- 
turned, and promulgated an indignant diatribe 



60 Doomed Religions. 

against the malingerers, who, by their aosence upon 
false pretences, had incurred the divine displeasure. 
Those who frankly confessed their fault were more 
leniently dealt with ; and the ' weepers ' — that is, 
the indigent believers, who bewailed their inability 
to equip themselves for the march — are mentioned 
with special commendation. 

" The displeasure of Mohammed was about the 
same time kindled against a party, who had built a 
mosque in the suburbs, with some disloyal purpose. 
He not only caused the building to be dismantled, 
but stigmatized its foundations as ' built on the 
brink of a crumbling bank to be swept away with 
the builder into the fire of hell.' The disaffected 
faction, however, had now but little countenance at 
Medina, and Abdallah ibn Obey dying shortly after, 
it disappeared entirely from the scene. 

" In the course of the year, Taif having tendered 
submission, there was no longer opposition anywhere 
in the Peninsula. Therefore, when the month of 
pilgrimage came round, Mohammed deputed Ali to 
recite, before the multitude assembled at Medina, the 
' Release,' according to which, after the term of four 
months, the Prophet was discharged from the obli- 
gations otherwise devolving upon him, and com- 
manded to wage war against all unbelievers failing 
to submit themselves to Islam. None but Moslems 
were ever after to approach the holy Temple, nor 



Mohammedanism. 61 

(so it was declared) should any unbeliever enter 
paradise.* 

" In the latter period of the life of Mohammed 
little notice is taken either of Jews or Christians. 
He had not received from them the countenance he 
claimed ; and, indeed, his object now attained, their 
support was no longer needed. "When not indiffer- 
ent, his attitude was unfriendly toward the Chris- 
tians, and toward the Jews, embittered. A Christian 
embassy from Najran, headed by their bishop, visited 
Medina, and entered into argument with the Proph- 
et. As the discussion waxed warm, Mohammed de- 
fied his opponents to bring the matter to the test of 
an oath : ' Come, let us call over the names of our 
sons and your sons, of our wives and your wives, of 
ourselves and yourselves ; then let us curse one the 
other, and lay the curse of God upon those that lie.' 
This strange challenge is embodied in the Coran. 
At the last, Mohammed was directed to fight against 
the recusant ' people who possessed the Scriptures' 
— that is, both Jews and Christians — until they 
agreed to 'pay tribute with their hand, and were 
humbled.' Both are cursed for their 'lying vani- 
ties,' the Jews for calling Ezra, and the Christians 

\ 

* This last clause (as well as the prohibition against making the 
circuit of the Kaaba, naked) does not appear in Sura IX., though it is 
implied in some other passages, as Suras III. 84; XLVIII. 13. It 
was, I need hardly add, in direct contravention of Mohammed's earlier 
teaching. 



62 Doomed Religions. 

for calling their Messiah, the Son of God ; and the 
priests and monks, who on former occasions had been 
spoken kindly of, are now bitterly condemned : 
' These devour the wealth of the people in vanity, 
and obstruct the ways of the Lord ; . . . their gold 
and silver shall be heated in the fire of hell, and 
their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall 
be seared therewith ; this is that w T hich ye have treas- 
ured np for yourselves, taste that which ye have 
treasured up.' But of the Scriptures themselves, 
both of the Old and New Testaments, Mohammed 
never, from first to last, made mention but with pro- 
found respect and veneration. 

"The life of Mohammed was now drawing to a 
close, when in the tenth year of the Hegira, accom- 
panied by his wives and by a vast multitude, he per- 
formed the ' Farewell pilgrimage,' of which the rites 
were now divested of every idolatrous association. 
On the sacred mount of Arafat he recited certain 
passages of the Coran, ending with the fourth verse 
of Sura V. : i This day have I perfected my religion 
unto you. Returning to Medina, he admonished 
the people in their various duties, social and domes- 
tic; and proclaimed the equality of every believer 
with his brother, and the sacredness of life and 
property. Then he recited the verses in Sura IX., 
which abolish intercalation of the year, and prohibit 
change of the sacred months. He warned them of 



Mohammedanism. 63 

the wiles by which Satan would seek to beguile the 
faithful even in matters trifling and indifferent, and 
concluded : ' V^erily, I have fulfilled my mission. I 
have left that among you, a plain command — the 
Book of God, and manifest ordinances — which, if ye 
hold fast, ye shall never go astray.' 

" Three months after, Mohammed fell sick, and on 
the 8th of June, A.D. 632, he died, in the sixty- 
third year of his age." * 

With these, perhaps needless, preliminaries of 
our own gathering, we introduce the essay of Mr. 
Bose. 

THE ESSAY. 

Mohammedanism, not by any means the least vig- 
orous of those religions of the world which have 
been characterized as proselytizing, owes its origin 
to a reaction against the wild and untraceable spirit 
of political and religious faction. Ushered into the 
world amid the turmoil of internecine warfare, relig- 
ious as well as political, it appeared as a system of 
eclectic compromise, with the olive branch of peace, 
as it were, in its hand ; but in process of time, as for- 
tune smiled upon it, and victory extended its influ- 
ence and increased its power, it was converted into 
the most gigantic engine of intolerance and persecu- 
tion the world ever saw. It is impossible to under- 
stand how this transformation was affected, without 

* Muir's " Coran. 



64 Doomed Religions. 

a careful examination and analysis of the eventful 
life of its great founder. 

The life of Mohammed most naturally divides it- 
self into two distinct parts, which are apparently in 
marked contrast to, not by any means in harmony 
with, each other. The first part brings him forward 
as a man of correct principles and irreproachable 
character ; a faithful husband, generous friend, and 
loyal citizen ; a devotee of a melancholic temperament 
and meditative turn of mind; a religious teacher, 
fond of retirement and contemplation, lifted by a 
lofty ideal above the low level of popular ambitions 
and efforts, and led by a series of visions and ecstatic 
transports to a belief in and a public declaration of 
his divine commission. The second part places be- 
fore us a voluptuary, not ashamed to call down the 
sanction of Heaven to the gratification of the vilest of 
his passions ; an unscrupulous propagandist, determined 
to spread his religion by the terror of the sword ; an 
intriguing warrior, gaining victories of tener by strokes 
of a tortuous policy than by deeds of prowess and 
bravery ; a vindictive tyrant, gloating over the suf- 
ferings of the victims sacrificed to his rage ; and 
a shameless truce-breaker, ready, on the flimsiest 
of pretexts, to set aside the most solemn of treaties 
in furtherance of schemes of self-aggrandizement. 
The two pictures are so very dissimilar to each 
other that we instinctively recoil from the necessity 



Mohammedanism. 65 

of representing them as two phases of one and the 
same life. 

We may predicate of Mohammed what has been 
so justly said of the Highlanders by Lord Macaulay. 
His life was looked at through one distorting medium 
in days gone by ; and it is being looked at through 
another in these days, when a species of sentimental- 
ism is growing up, by a strange fatality, side by side 
with the spirit of practical earnestness. Because he 
was blackened by a host of writers, who knew very 
little indeed about him, he has been whitewashed 
and brightened in our day by authors, who know a 
great deal about him, but who are determined to 
shut their eyes to the great faults by which his char- 
acter is darkened. But leaving the extremes of indis- 
criminating censure and fulsome praise, opinion is 
gravitating toward the belief, that he was a "thor- 
oughly good and righteous man " during the first 
period of his career as a reformer, and that he was 
rapidly demoralized, during its closing years, by suc- 
cess more magnificent by far than he had ever vent- 
ured to anticipate. This conviction, which is daily 
gaining ground, fails, in our humble opinion, to give 
to his life that coherence or unity which, as an in- 
dex to the progressive developments of a single mind 
and a single spirit, it cannot but have. The view 
which postulates some degree of selfishness and cun- 
ning in conjunction with some degree of sincerity as 



66 Doomed Religions. 

the foundation of a career, which ultimately was dis- 
figured by unblushing licentiousness, inhuman fe- 
rocity, and gross imposture, is decidedly the more 
preferable. 

The rise of Mohammedanism being one of those 
events, which, though of a stupendous character, 
may be explained by a simple reference to the law of 
sequence in historical developments, it is not at all 
necessary to throw around it the halo of a supernat- 
ural origin. It sprung from the seething caldron of 
political and religious feuds, as a solvent apparently 
fitted to fuse jarring elements into a homogeneous 
whole ; but, far from accomplishing its task, it solidi- 
fied itself, under a variety of hostile influences, into 
a conglomerate of heterogeneous ideas and conflicting 
principles. 

Arabia was emphatically a kingdom divided against 
itself when Mohammed appeared on the stage of 
its blood-stained history. The numerous clans of 
nomads, who ranged unshackled through the rich 
pastures and fruitful valleys of the central line of 
plateaus which form its backbone, and the tribes 
which led a more settled life in the towns and for- 
tresses bordering on the Red Sea, found their chief 
enjoyment in civil dissensions and predatory wars ; 
while the depredations attempted on and resented by 
the varied streams of caravans, which crossed each 
other at important centers of commercial activity, 



Mohammedanism. 67 

added to the general confusion. But the disorder, 
created by the absence of a central power or mo- 
narchical control, was enhanced by sectarian antago- 
nisms and religious contests. Low types of idolatry, 
ranging between the comparatively purer worship 
of the heavenly bodies, characteristic of ancient Sabi- 
anism, and the impure adoration of ghosts, spectres, 
trees, plants, and varieties of hideous idols ; a species 
of Judaism, which, though by no means canonically 
pure, was instinct with an aggressive and turbulent 
spirit of propagandism ; and some forms of Christian 
heresy, which wasted their vitality in fruitless contro- 
versies on the nature and attributes of the Saviour — 
such are the systems of faith which, with the magian- 
ism imported from Persia, divided the homage and 
sharpened the ferocity of the belligerent clans and 
tribes. What with political convulsions and religious 
wars, Arabia presented a scene of anarchy and con- 
fusion, which can be more easily conceived than 
described ! 

Brought up amid such universal commotion, with 
a mind observant and pensive, and a heart generous, 
though devoid of constitutional cheerfulness, Mo- 
hammed conceived the idea of a general reconcilia- 
tion, such as might change his beloved country 
from a scene of chronic disorder into an abode of 
peace and plenty. Even a man of ordinary penetra- 
tion could not but perceive that such a consummation 



68 Doomed Religions. 

could not possibly be brought about till a scheme had 
been devised fitted to heal the existing religious dif- 
ferences and dissensions. Such a scheme, therefore, 
Mohammed set about the task of initiating and matur- 
ing. He could not even cursorily examine the varied 
systems of faith, which made the confusion around 
him worse confounded, without discovering that the 
fundamental basis of one and all of them was a belief 
in the unity of God ; and that they all led their pro- 
fessors to look forward to a future state of rewards 
and punishments. "Was it not possible for him to 
effect the religious unification on which, as on a sure 
foundation, the political pacification of his country 
must be based, under the unfurled banner of these 
two universally admitted doctrines ? But he must 
himself be invested with authority sacred enough to 
challenge obedience, when these fundamental articles 
of belief were held up by him, not only as doctrines 
to be adopted, but as principles of reconciliation to 
be instantaneously reduced to practice. The prestige 
of divine revelation was needed to crown his darling 
project with success ; and it is not only possible, but 
highly probable, that he brooded over the necessity, 
in sequestered places, till he was led by a series of 
hallucinations, both of the eye and of the ear, to an 
unhesitating belief in his own prophetic call. At all 
events, he began his career as a reformer by lifting up 
the flag of truce, with the watchwords, the Unity of 



Mohammedanism. 69 

God, the Immortality of the Soul, and Revelation, 
inscribed on it in broad characters, as it were, of gold ! 
Mohammed was forty years old when this settled 
conviction became an element of his inner life ; and 
if he had not been a recluse and a missionary for 
some years previous, he would have at once seen the 
utter impracticability of his scheme. But, as yet, un- 
taught by experience, he seems to have anticipated 
an easy victory over the spirit of faction at work 
around him, though he did not lack that ordinary 
prudence which dictates cautious procedure and a 
conciliatory tone in matters of such grave importance. 
But when he saw a spirit of stubborn opposition 
stirred up where he expected an easy acquiescence, he 
was disappointed ; and he had recourse to a series of 
compromises, which disclosed a mixture of low cun- 
ning with the sincerity, for which the world is now 
disposed to give to him credit, as well as depraved 
ideas of morality. He tried to conciliate his idola- 
trous countrymen by a tacit recognition of the posi- 
tion of the idols they worshiped as mediators be- 
tween God and man, and by a retention of some of 
the ceremonies from which their central shrine, the 
celebrated Kaaba of Mecca, derived its supreme im- 
portance, both as a sanctuary of worship and a place 
of pilgrimage. He tried to conciliate the Jews by 
paying some insincere homage to their sabbath, as 
well as by offering to make, and actually making, 



70 Doomed Eeligions. 

Jerusalem tlie Iceblah, or point of adoration toward 
which his followers were to turn their faces while wor- 
shiping God. Compromises with Christians, fitted 
to insure their adherence to his creed, were also at- 
tempted. But such supple, accommodating policy on 
his part had the effect which, if he had exercised a 
little of the sagacity and foresight by which the 
closing period of his career was distinguished, he 
might have foreseen. His compromises were received 
with contempt by all the parties concerned ; and his 
hope of promulgating his faith, either by their means 
or by moral suasion, was entirely extinguished. 

He threw off the mask, and changed his tone, as 
soon as by a few happy turns of the wheel of for- 
tune he was raised to the summit of power and 
authority at Medina, whither he had escaped, with 
his life in his hand, about twelve years after his 
first annunciation as a prophet of God. The milder 
measures hitherto utilized failing, he had recourse 
to more formidable weapons. He appealed to the 
sword, led predatory excursions on a grand scale, 
declared war, made peace, broke treaties, encouraged 
assassinations, ordered general massacres, and had the 
barbarity to feast his eyes on the sufferings of those, 
whose stanch adherence to the faith of their fathers 
he looked upon as an unpardonable offense. And, 
in his private life, he gave a free license to the 
baser passions of his soul ; while to quiet disturb- 



Mohammedanism. 71 

ances in Ins narem, and among his followers, lie had 
a remedy at hand, a series of fictitious revelations 
from God ! Such complete demoralization cannot be 
accounted for by the theory which ascribes unmixed 
sincerity to him during the first period of his career. 
And in proportion as his character became de- 
praved his teaching deteriorated, till a system of 
pure theism was transformed into an unshapely mass 
of purity and impurity in doctrine and precept, as 
well as in aim and tendency. Mohammed was a 
borrower, not an originator ; and even as a borrower 
he did not evince much dexterity and skill. His knowl- 
edge of the varied systems of religion, utilized in 
elaborating his own, was of the most superficial kind. 
His knowledge, for instance, of Christianity was de- 
rived from the records of heresy, rather than from the 
standards of orthodoxy ; of Judaism, from Talmudic 
legends, rather than from its canonical Scriptures ; of 
Zoroastrianism, from some intercourse of rather a 
limited nature with its professors in Arabia. He 
transferred to his own system, truths and falsehoods, 
narratives and legends, laws and statistics, principles 
and maxims, correct or incorrect, moral or immoral, 
from all quarters, as occasions arose, without any re- 
gard to order or consistency. Therefore, we have in 
Mohammedanism a mass of heterogeneous elements, 
of incongruity and contradiction, rather than a beauti- 
fully developed, consistent, and symmetrical system. 



72 Doomed Eeligions. 

It is time to pass from the founder to the system, 
and set forth its salient features. Mohammedanism 
consists, according to an ancient division of its 
learned doctors or champions, of iman, faith, and 
dm, religions practice. With a due regard to this 
twofold division of its followers, we shall first speak 
of its faith, or theological platform, and, in the 
second place, refer to its religious practice, or its re- 
ligious observances. In the third place, we shall 
take brief notice of its ethical principles and ju- 
ridical laws, and set forth their practical conse- 
quences. And, lastly, we shall conclude with a very 
brief reference to the most important of the sects 
to which it has given birth. 

I. The Doctrines of Mohammedanism. 

Faith, as defined by Mohammedans, is not merely 
"the belief of the heart," but includes "the con- 
fession of the mouth." It is of two kinds — iman-i- 
mujmil, or faith in the gross, and iman-i-niiifassal, 
or faith in detail. The former is merely a general dec- 
laration of belief in the teaching of the Koran, and 
the Hadis, or the Body of Traditions, which claims 
equal homage with it. The latter is a distinctive 
belief in the six articles of faith : 1. The Unity of 
God. 2. The Angels. 3. The Koran. 4. The 
Prophets. 5. The Day of Judgment. 6. Predes- 
tination, or the Decrees of God. These articles of 



Mohammedanism. 73 

faith are to be treated of almost in the order in 
which they have been set forth. 

1. The Unity of God. This doctrine is the solid 
and durable foundation, the rock of adamant, on 
which the entire superstructure of Mohammedanism 
is based ; and it is placed in decided antagonism, not 
only to every species of idolatry, but even to the 
slightest approach to a trinitarian view of the Divine 
nature. It is formally enunciated in one of the 
shortest, if not the shortest, chapters of the Koran, 
the chapter entitled "The Declaration of God's 
Unity." It runs thus in Sale's version : " Say, God 
is one God, the eternal God ; he begetteth not, nei- 
ther is he begotten ; and there is not any one like 
unto him." This chapter, the hundred and twelfth, 
the Mussulman is required to repeat devoutly several 
times at least in the course of his life, and he looks 
upon it, according to a tradition ascribed to Moham- 
med himself, as equal in value to a third of the 
Koran. The Mohammedan Icalima, or creed, also 
embodies an emphatic declaration of God's unity. 
It runs thus : " There is no God but God, and 
Mohammed is his prophet." The doctrine is enun- 
ciated in various forms in many verses in the 
Koran, and runs through the entire tissue of its 
teaching as a thread of gold. And to-day, in 
his controversies with Moslems, the Christian mis- 
sionary has no expression cast in his teeth oftener 



74 Doomed Religions. 

than this: Wahidul-la-Sharih — One without a com- 
parison. 

The theology proper of the Koran, and not of the 
vast body of literature clustering around it, is on the 
whole unobjectionable. God is represented as the 
Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the world, om- 
niscient and omnipotent, " inclined to forgive, and 
gracious ; the possessor of the glorious throne, who 
effecteth what he pleaseth." He is recognized as 
the God of providence, seated " in a watch-tower, 
whence he observeth the actions of men." He is 
represented as " a sufficient patron," and " a sufficient 
helper," " mighty and wise," " gracious and merci- 
ful," " not ashamed of the truth, ready to forgive 
the sinners and reward the obedient ;" as the Being 
"who sustaineth the heavens and the earth," "ob- 
serveth all things," "knoweth the inmost parts of 
the breasts of men," " sendeth down water from 
heaven, and causeth the earth to revive after it hath 
been dead," and who " will be fully informed con- 
cerning them" when that which is in the graves 
shall be taken forth, and that which is in men's 
breasts shall be brought to light." 

It may be said that the doctrine of absolute and 
unconditional predestination, brought into bold relief 
in the Koran, tends to make God the author of sin, 
and mars, its, on the whole, correct representations 
about him. But many of the phrases, in which this 



Mohammedanism. 75 

doctrine is couched therein, are borrowed from the 
Old Testament, and if fairly interpreted, as in the 
case of our own Scriptures, in connection with others 
of opposite tendency enjoying equal prominence, the 
character of the God of the Koran might be vindi- 
cated from such aspersions. And it is a w T ell-known 
fact that, though the average Moslem is a fatalist of 
the first w r ater, he shrinks from the responsibility of 
representing God as the author of his sins. 

The principal object in these representations is 
perhaps their partial one-sidedness. They do not 
give as much prominence to the holiness or justice 
of God as they certainly give to his mercy. Solitary 
passages representing God as a God of vengeance are 
not w T anting. God is in several places represented as 
"severe in punishment," as well as "wise and gra- 
cious." But in the apportioning of punishments he 
seems to be guided by caprice, rather than by a fixed, 
inscrutable principle of rectitude, while Mohammed's 
implacable hostility to the Christian doctrine of the 
atonement involves the negation of that inviolable 
holiness in which the God of the Bible is obviously 
invested. It is also worthy of remark that, though 
the Koran abounds in passages fitted to set forth the 
mercy and compassion characteristic of the Divine 
nature, we see nowhere the discriminative idea of 
the New Testament, God is love, clearly brought 
forward. 



76 Doomed Religions. 

God is set forth in the Koran not only as one with- 
out a comparison, but as the sole object of worship. 
Mohammed did coquet or flirt with idolatry as long 
as there was some chance of his winning over his 
idolatrous countrymen, but when he discovered his 
mistake he became a thorough-going iconoclast. His 
motto during the last years of his career was, " ISTo 
compromise with unbelievers." It is embodied in the 
Koran, chapter cix, the chapter entitled " The Unbe- 
lievers." It runs thus : " Say, O, unbelievers, I will 
not worship that which ye worship ; nor will ye wor- 
ship that which I worship. Neither do I worship 
that which ye worship ; neither do ye worship that 
which I worship. Ye have your religion, and I my 
religion." 

The following legend, given in chapter xxxi, 
sets forth his implacable antipathy to idolatry : " And 
remember, when Lokman said unto his son, as he ad- 
monished him, < O, my son, give not a partner unto 
God, for polytheism is a great impiety.' " 

In one place he compares idolaters to " the brute 
cattle," and in another he sets forth the weakness of 
their faith by the image of the spider's web in these 
words : " The likeness of those who take other pa- 
trons besides God is as the likeness of the spider, 
which maketh herself a house ; but the weakest of all 
houses is surely the house of the spider." Prayer is 
not to be offered for idolaters while they continue 



Mohammedanism. 77 

such. This is emphatically stated in chapter ix : 
"It is not allowed unto the prophet, nor those who 
are true believers, that they pray for idolaters, al- 
though they be of kin, after it is become known unto 
them that they are inhabitants of hell ;" that is, after 
their determination to die idolaters is known, as well 
as when their doom is irrevocably fixed. It is stated 
in this chapter that even the " pitiful and compas- 
sionate " Abraham refused to pray for his idolatrous 
father. And the touching incident is well-known, 
namely, when Mohammed, in the maturity of his 
manhood, visited the tomb of his mother, Amina, 
between Mecca and Medina, he lifted up his voice 
and wept, the more bitterly, because he could not 
hopefully pray for her hell-tormented soul. JNor is 
the punishment inflicted upon idolaters of the light- 
est kind. The sixth of the seven divisions of hell, 
the one above the lowest reserved for hypocrites, is 
" a huge hot fire for idolaters." 

Mohammed is almost as decidedly opposed to the 
Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity as to idolatry 
in general, though the terms he and his successors 
offered to Christians, who are called by them " Peo- 
ple of the Book," when carrying out their warlike 
schemes of religious propagandism, were more favor- 
able than those offered to idolaters, who had to choose 
between the two alternatives of the Koran and the 
sword. The statements, in which his opposition to 



78 Doomed Religions. 

this mystery of mysteries is embodied, are enough to 
show that his views of it were derived from objec- 
tionable sources, and that he lacked even the ordinary 
analytic power, without which it cannot be discrim- 
inated from forms of error palpably absurd. One of 
these statements is given in chapter iv : " Believe, 
therefore, in God and his apostles, and say not, 
There are three gods ; forbear this ; it will be better 
for you. God is but one God." And in chapter v, 
besides an unequivocal declaration against the divin- 
ity of our Lord, we have these words : " O Jesus, son 
of Mary, hast thou said unto mankind, Take me and 
my mother as true gods, beside God ? " Arabia was a 
scene of hot controversy on the doctrine of Trinity 
about the time when Mohammed set up his new 
religion. The Monophysites maintained the perfect 
amalgamation of the two natures of Christ into one ; 
the Patripassians saw the Father agonizing in the 
Son on the cross ; the Monothelites saw in our Lord 
a union of two wills resulting from the perfect sub- 
ordination of the inferior to the superior ; and the 
Nestorians, anxious to avoid what is in theological 
parlance called the confusion of his two natures, fell 
into the mistake of dividing his personality. These 
were all heretics, whose opinions had been con- 
demned by the champions of orthodoxy ; but even if 
Mohammed had derived his views of the Holy Trin- 
ity from any one of these sects, he would not have 



Mohammedanism. 79 

fallen into the ludicrous mistake indicated in these 
quotations. He had neither the patience nor per- 
haps the intellect to master the controversy, and get 
to the bottom of the varied theories which sought 
with one another for victory and ascendency. He 
was, doubtless, a man of genius, a heaven-born poet, 
a dashing general, and a brilliant statesman ; but his 
intellect was by no means of the most penetrating 
order, and consequently his views of religion in gen- 
eral, and of the varied systems of faith he came in 
contact with, were superficial. Instead of availing 
himself of the disquisitions of these sects, he trans- 
ferred to his Koran, wholesale, the view maintained 
by a small, insignificant party of heretics, who were 
called Coilyridians, who worshiped Mary as God, and 
who offered her a species of cake called Collyris. 
And to-day his followers, though raised above this 
ridiculous view by a better knowledge of the sub- 
ject, invariably fail to discriminate between Trinity 
and Tritheism, and speak of what theologians call 
the eternal generation of Christ as if it were 
nothing more nor less than an instance of human 
generation. 

2. The Angelology of the Koran is borrowed, as 
almost the entire body of its contents, from Jewish 
Scriptures and Jewish legends. Belief in angels is 
an indispensable element of the Mohammedan 
creed ; and those who set it aside or manifest ill- 



80 Doomed Religions. 

feeling toward them, are remorselessly ranked with 
infidels. Angels, according to the Koran, are made 
of fire, furnished with subtle bodies, not under the 
necessity of deriving sustenance from food and drink, 
incapable of propagating their species, and not sub- 
ject to death. They are of various orders, " messen- 
gers furnished with two and three and four pairs of 
wings," and their offices are various. Nineteen of 
them " preside over hell-fire ; " eight of them shall 
bear the throne of God on the day of judgment ; 
and two of them by rotation attend every man to 
record his actions, one the good and the other the 
bad. Four of them occupy the most prominent po- 
sition in the hierarchy of heaven, and are called arch- 
angels, namely, Gabriel, the angel of revelations, 
who has in his possession the book of divine decrees, 
and through whom the Koran was given to Moham- 
med in driblets ; Michael, the next in honor, the 
guardian angel of the Jewish nation ; Azrael, the 
angel of death, who separates men's souls from their 
bodies, " tearing away " the bad and "leading gently " 
the good ; and Israfil, who will sound the dread 
trumpet at the resurrection. 

The Demonology of the Koran embodies, perhaps, 
the most glaring of the contradictions in which it 
abounds. The story of the fall of Satan, called 
Azazil, is given in the second chapter of the Koran, 
and reproduced and referred to in several of the 



Mohammedanism. 81 

succeeding ones. When God created Adam out of 
the dust of the earth or clay he commanded the angels 
to fall down and worship him. All obeyed but 
Azazil, who refused to worship him because he was 
made of clay, while he himself was of fire. His dis- 
obedience extorted from God the following sentence : 
" Get thee down from paradise ; for it is not fit that 
thou behave thyself proudly therein : get thee hence, 
thou shalt be one of the contemptible." God, how- 
ever, somewhat mitigated the punishment, made him 
one of " those who are respited," gave him permission 
to tempt men, and assured him that he would " fill 
hell " with his followers. Here is man-worship in a 
book, which emphatically declares the unity of God, 
and represents all worship, but that of which it is the 
sole object, as the most reprehensible of sins ! 

An intermediate order of beings, between angels 
and men, called Jin or Genii, consisting of two 
classes, one unfallen, and one fallen, and therefore in 
need of the raising power of Islamism, is also referred 
to in the Koran. By some Mussulmans angels are 
represented as impeccable, while there are some of 
them peccable, and others not only peccable but 
peccant. Their theory is built upon a text in which 
Satan is called a Jin. Here is another instance of 
contradiction in the Koran ! 

We ought not to conclude this portion of our 
subject without referring to the two black angels 



82 Doomed Religions. 

with blue eyes, called Munkir and NaMr, who ex- 
amine every man in his grave, as soon as his bearers 
and weeping friends have receded forty paces from 
it, and allow him to sleep in it, if satisfied as to his 
loyalty to God and his Prophet ; or beat him with a 
hammer called mitrakat, and make him cry and roar, 
if convinced of his faithlessness. It is stated in a 
tradition, that the Prophet himself heard the sound of 
the hammer issuing from a sealed tomb, and that his 
camel was frightened by the shrieks of the J>arty on 
whom it was being tried ! 

3. The Koran and the prophets. The Prophets 
are numerous, being 124,000 according to one tradi- 
tion, and 224,000 according to another. Of this vast 
number 313 have been apostles sent with special com- 
missions to purify the world from idolatry and infi- 
delity. Of these, again, six have appeared with 
special dispensations or laws, the second abrogating the 
law of the first, and each of the succeeding prophets 
superseding the one immediately going before. 
These six are Adam, Supi-ullah, the Chosen of 
God; Noah, Nahi-ullah, the Preacher of God; 
Abraham, Khalil-ullah, the Friend of God ; Moses, 
Kalim-ullah) one who had the privilege of convers- 
ing with God; Jesus, Huh-ullah, the Spirit of 
God ; and Mohammed, Rasul-ullah, the Apostle of 
God. It is desirable, under this head, to allude to 
what the Koran says about Christ ; but before such 



Mohammedanism. 83 

allusion is made, a word ought to be said about the 
long list of sacred Scriptures to which the finger of 
Mohammedan faith points. These are said to have 
been no less than one hundred and four : ten given 
to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Enoch, ten to 
Abraham ; the Towrat, Pentateuch, etc., to Moses ; the 
Zahur, Psalms, etc., to David; the Injil Gospels, 
etc., to Jesus, and the Koran to Mohammed. The 
first hundred of this long roll are represented as lost, 
and the intervening three are superseded by the 
Koran. It is not necessary for the faithful to go 
beyond this book of books, inasmuch as all that is 
worth knowing in the books lost or in those super- 
seded is found concentrated in it. 

To insure brevity we have not treated of the 
Koran, as it should be, under a distinct head ; but a 
few remarks on it are demanded by the great im- 
portance it enjoys as the main foundation of the 
Mohammedan faith. We say, the main foundation, 
because a vast body of traditions, called Hadis, to- 
gether with the Jjma, or the "consent of learned 
doctors," and Kias, or " the analogical reasoning of 
the learned with regard to precepts and the practices 
of the Prophet," shares with it the chief place in 
the veneration of Mussulmans of almost all sects. 
The Koran, represented by some learned Mussulmans 
as an element of the uncreated essence of God, and 
therefore eternal and immutable, was brought down 



84 Doomed Religions. 

to the lowest of the seven heavens by Gabriel, from 
whom Mohammed received it piecemeal, in the 
course of twenty-three years, as emergencies arose 
calling for supernatural guidance. As its different 
parts were made known, they were written on palm 
leaves, white stones, pieces of leather, shoulder blades 
of sheep and camels ; and these queer documents were 
all subsequently lodged in a chest and committed to 
the keeping of Hafsa, one of Mohammed's wives. 
No attempt was made to arrange and copy them 
during Mohammed's life-time ; but under the direc- 
tion of Abu Bekr, his successor, the fragments were 
arranged and a copy made by Zeid. This copy main- 
tained its authority till the thirtieth year of the 
Hegira, when Caliph Othman made a careful recen- 
sion to free it from the various readings by which 
the integrity of its texts was being marred. 

The Koran, as it has come down from the 
time of Othman, the third Caliph after Moham- 
med, consists of 6,616 verses, grouped into 114 
chapters ; the shorter ones, those composed at Mec- 
ca, being characterized by the spirit of lofty poetry 
and pure teaching, and the longer ones, those 
heaped up at Medina, tinctured with the worldliness 
and voluptuousness by which the latter part of his 
career was distinguished. The Koran is by no means 
a unity, being a heterogeneous mass of narratives, 
legends, fables, denunciations, imprecations, laws, 



Mohammedanism. 85 

statutes, tiresome repetitions, and glaring contradic- 
tions-r-all its materials thrown together without the 
slightest regard to lucidness of arrangement or logical 
consistence or coherence. Mohammed based his claim 
to universal homage on the varied excellencies of its 
style ; but the adverse opinion expressed by Gibbon, 
in his graphic account of the rise of Islamism, in his 
" Decline and Fall of the Eoman Empire," has been 
sustained by a host of writers more deeply conver- 
sant with Mohammedan literature than he could pos- 
sibly be. 

Let us now advert to what the Koran says about 
our Lord. It should be borne in mind that Moham- 
med's knowledge of Christ was derived, as his views 
of Judaism, from questionable, not proper, sources, 
from apocryphal gospels and heretical writings ; and he, 
therefore, retails the absurd legends which surround 
our Lord's infancy with narratives of meaningless 
miracles, and the transcendental speculations by which 
his death upon the cross is made apparent rather 
than real. He was the greatest of the prophets be- 
fore Mohammed, " illustrious in this world and the 
next;" and his career was distinguished by such 
miracles as " curing the blind and healing the leper." 
The Jews "devised a stratagem against him," 
and God " devised a stratagem " against them ; and 
God's stratagem prevailed, so the Jesus whom they 
crucified was not the Son of Mary, but a phantom 



S6 Doomed Religions. 

like him. The real Jesus was taken up to heaven by 
God, and is to come again in the last day to spread 
Is! amism over the whole world. He is called Kalamat- 
ullah, the Word of God ; Kaul-ul-IIagg, the Word 
of Truth, and Buh-ullah, the Spirit of God — titles 
higher than those conferred even upon Mohammed. 
But yet his business is that of a mere forerunner, 
" to confirm the law, and to announce an apostle that 
shall come after, whose name shall be Ahmad? 
Little did the Apostle John anticipate that such con- 
struction would be put on our Lord's promise of the 
Paraclete so unequivocally made in one of the 
sweetest chapters of his Gospel ! 

Tine current belief among Mussulmans, that the 
prophets are sinless, or free from the stain of small 
as well as great sins, is belied in the Koran, which re- 
fers to Adam's fall in unequivocal terms, and em- 
bodies Mohammed's prayers for the pardon of his 
own sins, as well as those of his ummat, people. 
They are, as a body, too much under the influence of 
prejudice and low ideas of morality to see the dis- 
tance between the lofty character of Christ and the de- 
praved character of their prophet. But even among 
them sensible men are found ready to admit the im- 
mense superiority of our Lord. The writer came 
across some years ago a very learned Maul vie, who said 
that while the prophets as a class were guilty of 
" small sins," Christ was the only prophet who was 



Mohammedanism. 87 

absolutely sinless, and that being so, he occupied a 
place higher than any on the roll of God's messengers 
to this world. 

4. The eschatology believed in by the followers of 
Islainism is the most composite portion of their 
composite system of faith, being a shapeless agglom- 
eration of grotesque conceptions borrowed from Jew- 
ish legends, Persian traditions, Arabian fables, and the 
apocryphal writings of the Eastern Church. It is by 
no means an easy task to wade through the mass of 
puerility and absurdity associated with it ; and it is 
impossible to set forth, within the limited space at 
our disposal, the crude and ludicrous nature of the 
sentiments and notions wrought into its texture. To 
give an idea of the absurdity of the fancies heaped 
up under this head, it is enough to say that the last 
trumpet, as soon as blown, shall cause the innumer- 
able souls gathered within it to fly out, " like bees," 
and rush into the bodies thrown up by the earth ; 
that different classes of sinners shall appear in varied 
degraded forms — the first, Zoroastrians in the form 
of apes ; the second, avaricious men in the form of 
swine ; the third, usurers, with their heads reversed 
and their feet distorted, and so on; that the day of 
judgment shall last one thousand years, according to 
one statement in the Koran, and fifty thousand years 
according to another; that the angel Gabriel shall 
weigh the actions of men and genii, and even superior 



88 Doomed Keligions. 

animals, with a huge balance with two scales ca~ 
pacious enough to contain both heaven and earth, 
the one hanging over paradise and the other over 
hell ; that, besides each person examined trying to 
father his misdeeds on his neighbors, his body and 
soul shall accuse each other with loud reproaches and 
recriminations; and that all persons, those admitted 
into paradise as well as those doomed to hell-fire, 
shall have to pass through a bridge, called the Sirat, 
across the chasm of hell, "finer than a hair and 
sharper than the edge of a sword," the righteous 
passing along like a flash of lightning, and the wicked 
missing their footing in the attempt to cross, and 
falling down headlong. This great day shall be, not 
only accompanied with varieties of extraordinary 
phenomena, but heralded by no less than twenty-five 
portentous signs, not only such as wars, tumults, 
the demolition of Kaaba and capture of Constanti- 
nople, but a general defection, the appearance of 
Antichrist, the second coming of Christ, and the ap- 
pearance of Imam Mohdi, the last of the great leaders 
of Mohammedan faith and worship, whose advent is 
anxiously looked for. 

Mohammedan descriptions of heaven and hell are 
of a piece with these materialistic notions of the day 
of judgment. Heaven consist of seven compartments, 
one rising above another; and cool shades, gurgling 
fountains, rivers flowing with water, milk, wine, and 



Mohammedanism. 89 

honey, pavilions of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds, soft 
conches, delicious viands served in dishes of gold, 
fragrant wines in goblets of the same material, silks, 
brocades, bracelets of silver and glittering crowns, 
liveried servants, of whom the meanest inhabitants 
of paradise is to have at least eighty thousand, and 
black-eyed damsels of ethereal beauty and proportions, 
of whom the smallest number assigned to the hum- 
blest denizen is seventy-two; these, with vastly en- 
larged powers of sensuous enjoyment, are the chief 
elements of heavenly bliss. In vain have attempts 
been made to explain away the voluptuousness in- 
volved in these passion-stirring descriptions; and in 
vain are our thoughts directed to the purer pleasures 
in which these streams of gross delights terminate ! 
How the soul can pass through such a carnival of 
sensuous pleasures to the glorious rest of ceaseless 
communion with God, or the uninterrupted worship 
and beatific vision of heavenly intelligences, Mo- 
hammedan ingenuity fails to show ! 

Hell also consists of seven compartments, descend- 
ing one below another, the lowest reserved for hypo- 
crites, such as Abdallah and his three hundred sol- 
diers, whose desertion led to Mohammed's defeat at 
Ohod ; the one above for idolaters, and the others 
successively for the magians, the Sabians, the Jews, the 
Christians, and guilty Moslems. The punishment in 
the case of the last, or of all who in this world avow 



90 Doomed Religions. 

their faith in the unity of the Godhead, and perhaps 
the mission of the Prophet, is to be terminable ; while 
everlasting agony, consequent on sudden transitions 
from the extreme of heat to that of cold, is reserved 
for all others. Among the torments of hell, the most 
prominent place is given to the formidable shoes of 
fire, which cause the skulls of those who wear them to 
boil like caldrons. Between heaven and hell there 
is an intermediate region, called Araf, occupied, ac- 
cording to one tradition, by those whose merit is 
held in equilibrium by their demerit, and who, there- 
fore, ought neither to be translated into heaven, nor 
hurled down into hell. 

5. Predestination, or the Decrees of God. This 
doctrine is embodied in the Koran in such passages 
as these : " The fate of every man have we bound 
about his neck." Chap. xvii. " Praise the name of 
thy Lord, the most high, who hath created and com- 
pletely formed his creatures, and who determineth 
them to various ends, and directeth them to attain 
the same." Chap, lxxxvi. "Will ye direct him 
whom God has led astray, since for him whom God 
shall lead astray, thou shall find no true path?" 
Chap. iv. " Thus doth God cause to err whom he 
pleaseth; and he directeth whom he pleaseth." 
Chap, lxxiv. In chap, xxv the book of God's de- 
crees is expressly mentioned. But these statements 
ought to be balanced by the innumerable texts in 



Mohammedanism. 91 

which man's free-will and responsibility are unequivo- 
cally pointed out. Opening the Koran at random, we 
find these words in chap, xc : " Have we not made 
him two eyes, and a tongue, and two lips ; and shown 
him the two highways of good and evil ? Yet he at- 
tempteth not the cliff." In chap, xci, or the one fol- 
lowing, we have these : " . . . by the soul, and him 
who completely formed it, and inspired into the same 
its faculty of distinguishing, and power of choosing, 
wickedness and piety." And in the following chap- 
ter (chap, xcii) we have two apparently contradictory 
statements : (a) " Now whoso is obedient, and f eareth 
God, . . . unto him will we facilitate the way to hap- 
piness : but whoso shall be covetous, . . . unto him 
will we facilitate the way to misery." (b) " Verily, 
unto us appertaineth the direction of mankind : and 
ours is the life to come and the present life." If the 
principle of interpretation, adopted in explaining 
similar passages in the Bible, specially the Old Testa- 
ment, were candidly applied to the Koran, the charge 
of fatalism generally preferred against its teaching 
might be represented as on the whole unwarrantable. 
But it must be admitted that Mussulmans are as de- 
cidedly fatalists as Hindus are, though they rarely go 
so far as to represent God as the author of sin, or 
themselves as irresponsible agents. The following 
extracts from an English translation of an Arabic 
treatise on the subject, made by Rev. T. P. Hughes, 



92 Doomed Religions. 

of Peshawar, and inserted in his valuable " Notes on 
Mohammedanism," sets forth the position of learned 
Mohammedans as regards the doctrine under review : 
" But God hath so decreed good works, obedience, 
and faith, that he ordains and wills them, and that 
they may be under his decree, his salutary direction, 
his good pleasure and command. On the contrary, 
God hath decreed, and does ordain and determine, 
evil, disobedience, and infidelity; yet without his 
salutary direction, good pleasure, and command ; but 
being only by way of seduction, indignation, and 
prohibition. But whosoever shall say that God is 
not delighted with good faith, or that God hath not 
an indignation against evil and unbelief, he is cer- 
tainly an infidel." 

II. Mohammedan Obseevances. 

The portion of Mohammedanism called Din, or 
Practice, consists of five elements, as the doctrinal 
portion of six. These are, 1. The Recital of the 
Kalima, or Creed ; 2. Sula, or five stated times of 
prayer ; 3. Roza, or the thirty days' fast of Ramzan; 
4. Zakat, or the legal alms; and, 5, ITajj, or Pil- 
grimage to Mecca. Some account of these elements, 
or rather, " pillars " of Mohammedan practice, is 
needed to complete our review of the system. 

1. The Kalima, or Creed, embodies a declaration 
of the unity of God, and a recognition of Moham- 



Mohammedanism. 93 

med's position as his prophet or apostle. It runs 
thus in Arabic : La-il-la-hah, Il-lal-ta-Tio. Maham- 
med y urr Basul, ul-lah — "There is no other God 
but God, and Mohammed is the apostle or messenger 
of God." This creed is repeated aloud in Arabic by 
\ adults when they are converted to Mohammedanism, 
circumcision in this case being dispensed with. And 
every Mussulman is required to repeat it correctly 
and aloud at least once in his life-time, to understand 
it thoroughly, to embrace it cordially, and to profess 
it intelligently and unhesitatingly, at all times, and 
under all circumstances, till the last moment of his 
life. 

2. Prayer. Mohammed recognizes the paramount 
importance of prayer when he represents it as " the 
pillar of religion," and " the key of paradise ;" but 
he neutralizes its efficacy by representing the lustra- 
tions by which it is preceded in the case of his fol- 
lowers as " half of the faith," and " the key of 
prayer," and by encumbering it with a variety of 
minute directions as to the attitudes and postures to 
be used. The Moslem must pray five times in the 
course of twenty-four hours — before sunrise, at mid- 
day when the sun has begun to decline from the me- k 
ridian, before sunset, after sunset, and when the night 
has closed in. The prayer, or rather service, on each 
of these occasions must be preceded by a series of 
purifications, such as washing the hands up to the 



94 Doomed Keligions. 

elbow, the feet up to the knee, face, etc. ; and it 
must be accompanied with a variety of postures, such 
as standing erect with the hands on either side, stand- 
ing with the right hand placed upon the left below 
the navel, and with the eyes fixed upon the ground, 
making an inclination of the head and body with the 
hands placed upon the knees, genuflections and pros- 
trations. Each of these varied postures is accompa- 
nied with the utterance of praises or ejaculations ; for 
instance, when prostrated the worshiper thrice re- 
peats the words, " I extol the perfection of my God, 
the Most High," or, when standing with his thumbs 
touching the lobules of his ears, he exclaims, " Great 
is God ! " The service consists of praises rather than 
of petitions, the only prayers, properly so-called, in 
it being two, one offered for " mercy on Mohammed 
and on his descendants," and the other embodied in 
these words, " O God our Lord, give us the blessings 
of this life, and also the blessings of life everlasting. 
Save us from the torments of hell." The service has 
no confession of sin, no prayer for pardon, no long- 
ing for holiness, no yearning for close communion 
w r ith God and thorough consecration to his service. 
And though it is edifying to see devout Moslems en- 
gaged in prayer, according to their ritual, as soon as 
the crier indicates the appointed time from the stee- 
ple of a mosque, those, who know how little influ- 
ence that prayer exercises over their life and conver- 



Mohammedanism. 95 

sation, and over their thoughts and feelings, and how 
often the ceremony is gone through by men sunk in 
immorality, and even in debauchery, cannot but look 
upon it as a mechanical performance, rather than a 
devotional exercise, properly so-called. 

The Mohammedan Burial Service, read, not in the 
grave-yard, which is considered impure, but either in 
a mosque or in a private house, or in an open space 
at some distance from the burial-ground, embodies a 
prayer for pardon and faith ; as well as the khutha, 
or sermon and prayer read on Friday, the Moham- 
medan sabbath, after the usual afternoon prayer. 
But the lofty yearning after holiness characteristic of 
Christian prayers, even when they are written and 
stereotyped, form no portion of Mohammedan devo- 
tion, either private or public. 

3. Fast. The Ramozan, the ninth month of the 
Mohammedan year, is observed as a strict fast, absti- 
nence from food and drink lasting each day from the 
early dawn to sunset, and followed in almost ninety- 
nine out of every hundred cases by revelry in the 
night. This fast is a Mohammedan edition either of 
a fast existing among the Arabs when Mohammed 
began his career as a reformer, or of the Lent of the 
Eastern Church, observed with rigor, not only in the 
day, but in the night also. The event commemorated 
in this season of abstinence is the descent of the Ko- 
ran from the throne of God to the lowest heaven on 



96 Doomed Keligions. 

" the night of power," the exact date of which Mus- 
sulmans are confessedly ignorant of. The fast ter- 
minates in a festival called the Id-ul-Fitr, literally, 
the Feast of Breaking the Fast, a day of rejoicing, 
the first few hours spent in public devotion, and 
preparation for it, and the remaining portion amid 
visits of courtesy and festivities. 

4. The Legal Alms. The giving of alms is, as a 
work of merit, placed even above prayer and fasting, 
and a tradition ascribes to Caliph Omar the saying, 
" Prayer carries us half way to God, fasting brings 
us to the door of his palace, and alms procures us 
admission." The alms prescribed are of two kinds 
— voluntary and legal. The voluntary alms are, 
doubtless, fitted to set forth the generosity of the 
donor, but the legal alms are in reality taxes levied 
on cattle, either of camels, kine, or sheep, and on 
money, corn, fruits, and wares sold. In countries 
under Mohammedan rule they are extorted accord- 
ing to the rates fixed in the Koran, as benevolences 
used to be in England ; but they are, as a rule, not 
regularly given by Mussulmans dwelling in other 
lands. These so-called alms have been compared to 
Jewish tithes ; but, as they are not intended to sup- 
port a body of priests and acolytes, there is an essen- 
tial difference between these two kinds of gifts. 
The legal alms of Mohammedan ratepayers may 
partly be called alms, because they are almost exclu- 



Mohammedanism. 97 

sively utilized for the benefit of the poor, who are 
looked after and provided for in Mohammedan coun- 
tries more thoughtfully and systematically than else- 
where. 

5. Pilgrimage to Mecca. The ceremonies con- 
nected with this pilgrimage are almost exact copies 
of those performed by the idolatrous Arabs when 
they visited Mecca, as the center of their idolatrous 
worship ; and they set forth the height to which 
Mohammed could carry his flexible scheme of com- 
promise. These consist of the wearing of a pilgrim 
robe, called ihram, the performance of legal ablu- 
tions, the solemn march to the sacred mosque, the 
kissing of the black stone, the gyrations around the 
Kaaba, prayers before the footmarks of Abraham, 
running seven times from the summit of Mount 
Lafa to that of Mount Marwah, the throwing of 
stones in Mina, and so on, all meaningless except 
when connected with the idolatrous practices of Mo- 
hammed's unenlightened countrymen. The pilgrim- 
age to Mecca is represented as an act of uncommon 
merit, obligatory on all who can defray the expenses 
connected with it. The pilgrim has his zeal stimu- 
lated by glorious promises ; every step he takes to- 
ward the Kaaba wipes out a sin of his from the book 
of remembrance, and if he dies on his way to the 
holy shrine, he is immediately enrolled as a martyr. 

A man who helps a poor Moslem to perform this 

7 



98 Doomed Religions. 

pilgrimage is regarded as one who has satisfied all the 
claims of the Mohammedan law, while the Moslem 
who can perform the pilgrimage, but leaves it unper- 
formed, is guilty of one of those sins called kahira, 
or great. 

Connected with this pilgrimage there is a sacrifice, 
called the Id-al-adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, which 
is observed by Mussulmans all over the world. In- 
stituted originally in imitation of the Day of Atone- 
ment among the Jews, it has lost much of its mean- 
ing ; but sheep, cows, and camels are sacrificed at the 
entrances of Mohammedan houses by heads of fami- 
lies, " in the name of the great God," after the morn- 
ing ablutions and prayer. The flesh of the animal 
sacrificed is then divided, two thirds being reserved 
for family use, and the remaining one third being 
given to the poor. According to some Moham- 
medan authorities, the festival commemorates the at- 
tempted offering of Ishmael by Abraham, whose son 
Isaac is always thrown into the background by Mo- 
hammedan writers. 

Mohammed loudly opposed the doctrine of sacrifice, 
as the theists of the day do ; but this festival is an 
example of his instinctive leaning toward it, as well 
as what he is reported to have said, according to a 
current tradition, by Ayesha, his favorite wife : 
" Man hath not done any thing on the Id-al-adha 
more pleasing to God than spilling blood; I mean 



Mohammedanism. 99 

sacrifice ; for, verily, tlie animal sacrificed will come, 
on the day of resurrection, with its horns, its hair, 
and its hoofs, and will make the scales of his good 
actions heavy. Verily, its blood reacheth the accept- 
ance of God before it falleth upon the ground, there- 
fore be joyful in it." 

The other festivals observed by Mussulmans can 
only be named — the MuTiarram, observed amid wail- 
ings and lamentations, specially by the Shias, in com- 
memoration of the martyrdom of Ali and his two 
sons, Hassan and Hosein ; the Shah JBarat, or the 
Night of Eecord, when God annually makes out what 
may be called a budget of human actions during the 
year, observed amid rejoicings, festivities, and fire- 
works ; the Ahhiri Chahar Shawha, the last Wed- 
nesday of the month of Safar, observed because Mo- 
hammed, during his last fatal illness, felt well enough 
on this day to go through the legal ceremony of bath- 
ing ; and the Bara Wqfat, observed in commemora- 
tion of Mohammed's death, which occurred on the 
twelfth day of the following month, amid sacred read- 
ings and prayers and presents, specially of sweets, to 
poor Mohammedans; and the Mevlud Sherif, ob- 
served in the same way, to commemorate his birth. 

III. Mohammedan Ethics and Jurisprudence. 
The ethical system of the Koran is, on the whole, 
purer than the glimpses it presents either of the 



100 Doomed Religions. 

character of the founder of Islamism or of the sensu- 
ous enjoyment said to be in store for the believer. 
That system is both an index to and a protest against 
the crimes and vices which prevailed in Arabia at 
the time of Mohammed, and which his teaching has, 
on the whole, failed to obviate. Suicide, infanticide, 
robbery of widows, orphans, travelers, and strangers, 
ill-treatment if not butchery of captives, breach of 
trust, false witness against modest women, taking of 
usury, murder, adultery ; these, with such supersti- 
tions as cutting off the ears of cattle, were rampant 
among Mohammed's countrymen, and against them 
he inveighed with warrantable vehemence. The im- 
molation of female children, as common among them 
as among the Rajputs of India, and arising from the 
same source, false ideas of honor, accompanied with 
extravagance in matrimonial expenses, is again and 
again made the subject of vehement declaration and 
strict prohibition. Drinking intoxicating liquors and 
gambling are prohibited, as also the arts of magic 
and necromancy. Unnatural crimes are justly made 
to occupy a prominent place among " great sins," 
though a passage in the Koran itself and several in 
the Hadis are marshaled in their favor by parties 
prone to dwell on the defects of the system. Diso- 
bedience to parents is placed in the same category 
with murder and theft ; and " despairing of God's 
mercy " is condemned as decidedly as " an evil heart 



Mohammedanism. 101 

of unbelief " is in the New Testament. The virtues 
recommended are the prominent ones set forth in the 
Old Testament — poverty of spirit, moderation, tem- 
perance, frugality, kindness to widows, orphans, and 
strangers, patience, forbearance, meekness, and docil- 
ity. And if the term, universal love, not merely 
charity in the sense of denominational or sectarian 
love, were added, the catalogue would be complete. 

But the system, like every other human code of 
morality, has serious defects. It is disfigured by the 
marks impressed upon it by that time-serving policy 
which made Mohammed willing at times to give up 
even the cardinal principles of his faith. Fleeing in 
battle before the face of an infidel is represented as 
" a great sin, 5 ' simply because such an exhibition of 
cowardice on the part of his followers would be ruin- 
ous to his cause. But the greatest defect of the sys- 
tem is the fact that his followers are absolved from 
the necessity of obeying all law, human and divine, 
in their intercourse with infidels. "War with unbe- 
lievers, war, not only in defense of the faith, but to 
insure its propagation, is enjoined as a solemn and 
highly meritorous duty, obligatory on all believers ; 
and curses are denounced against those who shrink 
from it, while rewards of the highest order are 
placed before those by whom it is vigorously waged. 
And the happy Moslem, who dies, sword in hand, in 
defense or furtherance of the true faith, is enrolled 



102 Doomed 'Religions. 

as a martyr in this world, and rewarded with inter- 
mediate entrance into paradise beyond the grave. 
The infidel who has the audacity to refuse compliance 
with the imperious demands of the champion of the 
faith is relentlessly doomed to death, while his wife 
and children and his property, movable and unmova- 
ble, become legitimate booty. In chapter xlvii of 
the Koran we have these words : " When ye encoun- 
ter the unbelievers, strike off their heads, until ye 
have made a great slaughter among them ; and bind 
them in bonds : and either give them a free dismis- 
sion afterward, or exact a ransom, until they shall 
have laid down their arms." " O, true believers, if 
ye assist God, by fighting for his religion, he will 
assist you against your enemies; and will set your 
feet fast : but as for the infidels, let them perish ; and 
their works shall God render vain." How the faith- 
ful are to be gentle within their own circle and fero- 
cious out of it, loyal to the principles of rectitude in 
their dealings with one another, but ready to fling 
them aside as soon as they come in contact with the 
professors of a different faith, Mohammedan divines 
do not pause to settle. 

The ethical principles of the Koran are neutralized 
by the judicial laws with which they are associated. 
Instead of stating, as the Lord Jesus Christ did, 
broad principles of universal applicability, and leav- 
ing details to be managed by different countries and 



Mohammedanism. 103 

different peoples according to them and their own 
conditions of life, Mohammed has linked the fate of 
his religion to that of a vast body of jurisprudence, 
so that they both stand and fall together. But the 
jurisprudence is admittedly behind the age, and very 
little homage is paid to it even in Mohammedan 
countries, or in countries under Mohammedan sway. 
To set forth its inconsistency with the genius of the 
age, it is enough to allude to the laws referring to 
theft. A person guilty of theft once has his right 
hand cut off; twice, his left hand; thrice, his right 
foot ; and w T hen the guilt is repeated for the fourth 
time, the left foot has to pay the penalty in the same 
way. This law is thrown aside with merited con- 
tempt in European Turkey, and there is scarcely a 
sensible Mussulman ready to stand up for it. The 
laws referring to deliberate murder and culpable 
homicide have also been revised by Mohammedan 
legislators. 

The law of inheritance has certainly some re- 
deeming features, being far less exclusive of female 
right than the position occupied by woman in Mo- 
hammedan society might, have led one to expect. 
But the laws referring to marriage and divorce at- 
tach an indelible stigma to the Koran and its teach- 
ing. Marriage is enjoined as a duty, and celibacy is 
discouraged, even in the case of ascetics and religious 
mendicants. Mohammed is reported to have said, 



104 Doomed Keligions. 

" When the servant of God marries he perfects half 
his religion." The believer has the privilege of mar- 
rying four wives, and converting as many of his fe- 
male slaves into concubines as he chooses. Female 
slaves, even when married, may be legitimately com- 
pelled by their owners to live in concubinage with 
them, according to the permission given in these 
words, (chap, iv,) u Ye are forbidden to take to wife 
free women who are married, except those women 
whom your right hands shall possess as slaves." The 
law of divorce seems to have been specially suited to 
the caprice of husbands sated with impure enjoy- 
ment. The husband has the right to repudiate his 
wife on the slightest provocation, and may divorce 
and take her back twice. But if he says " Thou art 
divorced " thrice, the . divorce becomes absolute, and 
he cannot take back the wife except when she has 
been married to and divorced by another. Polyg- 
amy, laxity of marriage law, and slavery are the 
three inalienable faults of Mohammedanism, and 
they neutralize whatever of purity and loftiness is 
attached to its code of moral and judicial laws. In 
extenuation of these evils, it has been said that the 
Koran has simply borrowed them from the Old Tes- 
tament. But it is forgotten that the Old Testament 
contemplates their ultimate extinction, or their ex- 
tinction as soon as its preparatory dispensations ter- 
minate in one destined to be a finality, while, by the 



Mohammedanism. 105 

Koran, each of these gigantic evils is stereotyped intq 
a permanent institution. 

Mohammedanism has proved a failure, and society 
in Mohammedan countries is rotten to the very core. 
No wonder. The faithful look behind toward a 
character depraved by vicious indulgences, and for- 
ward toward enjoyments grossly sensuous ; and they 
most naturally strive to combine piety w T ith impiety, 
and virtue with vice. Their religious life is buried 
under a load of artificial rules ; and cold formality is 
substituted by them for living faith and pious fervor. 
]STor is this the worst feature of their religious life. 
They take the name of God in vain after ejaculatory 
prayers in the midst of sensual pleasures, and praise 
Heaven for the gratification of the most impure of 
their passions and appetites. They observe their pre- 
scribed fast in the day, and crown it in the night, 
without the slightest scruple, with carousal and de- 
bauchery. They say their prayers at the appointed 
hours, and never scruple to spend the intervening 
periods of time either in meditating revenge or prac- 
ticing fraud, or securing illegal gains, or in preparing 
for illicit intercourse. Their belief, that those who 
have once in their life-time repeated the creed aloud, 
or who avow in public their faith in God and Moham- 
med, need never despair of final salvation, emboldens 
them in their life of sin and iniquity, insomuch that 
the vices prohibited in the Koran, in the strictest 



106 Doomed Religions. 

terms possible, are fearfully prevalent among them. 
Drinking is as prevalent in Persia and Turkey as in 
England and America, and gambling is even more so. 
Peculation and bribery liave apparently no check 
where they have the upper hand ; while tyranny and 
oppression are elements of their nature. Unnatural 
crimes are as common among them, or rather more 
common, than they were among the ancient Greeks ; 
and it is a well-known fact that their prevalence in 
India is mainly, if not solely, to be attributed to the 
presence of Greeks in the land now, and their rule 
over it in days gone by. And the only things, al- 
most, about which they are very particular, are the 
laws in the Koran about prohibited food and certain 
external observances ; and consequently lip-profession 
and lip-worship, accompanied with abstinence from 
certain kinds of food and the wearing of some kinds 
of badges, pass for piety and godliness even when 
the character of the parties, who can only boast of 
such externality, is depraved to the very core. Add 
to all this female seclusion and degradation, polyg- 
amy, slavery, and unrestrained autocracy, and you 
have a picture of what a system of theism, thorough- 
ly eclectic, has accomplished. 

IV. Mohammed an Sects. 
The Mohammedans, determined to excel the pro- 
fessors of other religions in sectarian development, as 



Mohammedanism. 107 

well as in every other respect, affirm that, while the 
Magians have seventy sects, the Jews seventy-one, 
and the Christians seventy-two, they have no less 
than seventy-three sects. The history of the divis- 
ions and subdivisions of what may be called the 
Mosque is fitted to remind one of the rise and prog- 
ress of sectarian warfare in the Church. Metaphys- 
ical disputes about the nature and attributes of Christ 
have always been fruitful sources of sectarian divis- 
ion among us, Christians ; and similar controversies 
on the essence and attributes of God have occasioned 
the breaches by which the unity of Mohammedanism 
has been endangered, and, to some extent, extin- 
guished. It is almost impossible, and by no means 
necessary, to follow the spirit of sectarianism and 
heresy from its first appearance among Mohammed- 
ans, through the almost innumerable tangled skeins 
of controversy and dispute through which it has 
passed, to its present prominent phases of develop- 
ment. But it is desirable to call attention to some 
of these. 

The most prominent of Mohammedan sects in 
these days are four: the Sunnis — divided into four 
subordinate sects — the Shias, the Wahabis, and the 
Sufis. 

1. The Sunnis, called also the traditionists on 
account of their firm faith in the Sunna or tradition 
as well as in the Koran, are looked upon as the ortho- 



108 Doomed Religions. 

dox party. They look upon Abu Bekr, Omar, and 
Othman, as well as upon Ali, as legitimate successors 
of Mohammed ; and they neutralize by their tradi- 
tions some, at least, of the most repellant features of 
the Prophet's legislation. For instance, terminable 
marriages, called mutah, are legalized in the Koran ; 
but the Sunnis maintain that the law in their favor 
was repealed by Mohammed himself, and bring 
forward a tradition in support of their assertion. 
The Sunnis are divided into four great sects — the 
JIanifs, who are found in Turkey, Central Asia, 
and North India ; the Shafis, found principally in 
South India ; the Malilcis, found in Morocco, Bar- 
bary, and some parts of Africa ; and Hamhalis^ 
found in parts of Arabia and Africa. 

2. The Shias are adherents of Ali, the husband of 
Mohammed's daughter, Fatimah, and they look upon 
and represent the first three successors of Mohammed 
as usurpers. They believe in traditions, and even call 
themselves Ahl-i-Badis, the people of tradition ; but 
their collections of the almost innumerable tradi- 
tional sayings of the Prophet, handed down by al- 
most innumerable persons, are different from those 
believed in by the Sunnis. According to them, true 
religion consists in a recognition of the twelve 
Imams, or supreme pontiffs, beginning with Ali, and 
ending in Abu Kasmi, whom they call Imam Modhi, 
and who, they believe, is still alive, and concealed in 



Mohammedanism. 109 

some secluded place, whence he will emerge at the 
appointed time to deliver the faithful from all their 
troubles, and conduct them to victory and domina- 
tion. They have, in consequence, added a sentence 
to the Mohammedan creed, and their confession of 
faith translated runs thus : " There is no god but 
God, and Mohammed is his prophet : and Ali is the 
great one of God, the successor of the prophet of 
God." They observe with solemn pomp the cere- 
monies of the Moharram in commemoration of the 
first three Imams, Ali, Hassan, and Hussain, while 
the Sunnis observe the tenth day of the festival as 
the day on which God is said to have created Adam 
and Eve, and look upon much of what is done by 
their opponents as idolatrous. Persia is the great 
center of Shia influence, as Turkey is the center of 
that of the Sunnis ; and the antagonism between the 
Turks and the Persians is proverbially intense. 

3. The Wahabis are followers of Sheikh Moham- 
med, son of Abdul Wahab, who was born at Aina, a 
village in Ared, in the country of Nejed, in Eastern 
Arabia, and who, after having studied the Koran and 
Hadis, at first under his father's guidance, and sub- 
sequently under that of a learned Maulvie at Medi- 
na, became the leader of what has been very prop- 
erly called Mohammedan Puritanism. The Wahabis 
are to the Mohammedan community what the Jesuits 
are to the Roman Catholic Church, and their bigotry, 



110 Doomed Keligions. 

fanaticism, and unscrupulousness make them danger- 
ous elements of the populations of the countries, 
where they are numerous, such as India, Arabia, and 
Turkey. Their political power, which was a terror 
to their co-religionists, specially in Arabia and in 
India, is now extinguished, but they secretly propa- 
gate their dangerous tenets ; and the most combusti- 
ble materials, gathered together in countries where 
Mussulmans are numerous, are to be traced to their 
growing influence. They look upon other Mussul- 
mans as little better than idolaters, reject the Ijma, or 
the embodied decisions of the learned doctors, who 
may be called the fathers of the Mohammedan 
Church ; oppose the custom of offering prayers to 
prophets and saints, or illuminating their graves or 
shrines, or performing circuits around them, or of 
prostrating before them ; discard, as unlawful, some 
of the festivals observed by Mussulmans in general, 
and substitute their lingers for rosaries in counting 
the ninety-nine names of God. Though opposed to 
the slightest approach to or compromise with idola- 
try, they interpret literally the anthropomorphous 
descriptions of God embodied in the Koran, so far 
as to maintain that God literally sits down, and has a 
hand, though they do not pretend to be able to ex- 
plain how. 

4. The Sufis form a small, but by no means an 
insignificant, sect; their learning, philosophical acu- 



Mohammedanism. Ill 

men, and ascetic self-sacrifice giving them an im- 
portance and an influence out of proportion to their 
numerical strength. Their creed occupies the same 
place, in the development of Mohammedan theology, 
which is occupied by Gnosticism in the development 
of Christian theology ; and it may partly be repre- 
sented as a strange mixture of Mohammedan unita- 
rianism and pedantic pantheism. According to it all 
things are elements of one pervasive essence, and the 
human soul, specially, is a part of God separated 
from him by a strange fate, but destined ultimately 
to be reunited to, or rather absorbed in, him. Its 
natural state is one of ritualism, or strict conformity 
to the law, and the glorious consummation before it is 
absorption or annihilation of individual being and 
consciousness in the all-embracing being and con- 
sciousness of God. Its journey from its present de- 
graded condition to this goal is divided into seven 
stages ; the first is that of proper search after God 
and spiritual service, the second that of love, the 
third that of seclusion, the fourth that of knowledge, 
the fifth that of ecstasy, the sixth that of the revela- 
tion of the true nature of God or the truth, and the 
seventh that of reunion with God, the highest stage 
attainable in this life. The phraseology in which the 
tenets of the system are couched is borrowed from a 
language of love and marriage, and of wantonness 
and mirth. The worshiper is the lover, God is the 



112 Doomed Religions. 

beloved, love of God is the intoxicating wine, tlie 
mysteries of religion are the ringlets, and religious 
enthusiasm is inebriation and mirth. The most ar- 
dent devotee is called the madman, rendered insane 
by his passionate longing to be reunited to the be- 
loved from whom he has been separated by a deplor- 
able accident ! Persian and Urdu poetry derive their 
rhapsodical character, their ambiguous phraseology, 
their gross imagery, and their imposing mystification 
from the speculations of this sect. 

Conclusion. 

There are about a hundred and ninety millions of 
Mohammedans on the surface of the globe : about a 
hundred millions in Africa, about eighty-six millions 
in Arabia, and sixty-five millions in Europe. That 
their political power has been on the wane for cent- 
uries, that their religious influence has been declin- 
ing every-where, that their morals have been de- 
bauched, and that they have deteriorated in phy- 
sique — these are facts too well known to be pointed 
out, facts admitted by Mohammedans themselves. 
But they do not, like the Hindus, calmly and resign- 
edly look forward to certain, impending, inevitable 
destruction. On the contrary, they expect, and are 
eagerly looking forward to, a coming revival. Their 
attitude in these days is, in many respects, similar to 
that of the Jews in the days of our Lord, or imme- 



Mohammedanism. 113 

diately before his advent. As the Jews were thor- 
oughly restless in consequence of a universally hated 
foreign yoke, and of the evident decline of their na- 
tional glory, the Mohammedans are groaning, in some 
places under a foreign yoke, as in India, where there 
are no less than fifty millions of Mussulmans, and all 
under a humiliating sense of their general degradation 
and downfall. As the Jews had very gross, though 
flattering, ideas of the reform they stood in need of, 
they have notions of reform which never rise above 
worldly greatness, victory, renown, domination over 
the other peoples of the world, and prestige derived 
from temporal ascendency and irresistible power. 
And, lastly, as the Jews were eagerly looking for the 
advent of a deliverer commissioned by Heaven, in 
conformity to express prophetic declarations, to con- 
duct them in triumph out of shame and degradation 
to unutterable glory, they are looking for the advent 
of the great Imam, who will restore to them the pros- 
perity and the glory they had when their victorious 
cohorts made their name a terror in Asia, Africa, and 
Europe ; nay, raise them to a pitch of glory loftier than 
ever ! Persons claiming to be the Imam Modhi have 
appeared in times past in different places, and led 
hordes of fanatics from among them to absolute ruin, 
and even now, as we write these lines, a fanatic is 
doing mischief in Egypt under the assumed cloak of 

this exalted name and title. The restlessness of the 
8 



114 Doomed Religions. 

Mohammedans has made them blind to the signs of 
the times, and deaf to the declarations of their own 
sacred scriptures. Their prophetic declarations an- 
nounce the coming of the Antichrist and of Jesus 
Christ previous to the advent or appearance of the 
great warrior in whom the line of their Imams ter- 
minates. But they have no reason to believe that 
either Antichrist or Jesus Christ has appeared ; and 
consequently their sanguine hopes relative to the 
speedy appearance of their expected deliverer are 
groundless. But, though groundless, these anticipa- 
tions would occasion a series of dire commotions if 
the pressure put upon them by the unconquerable 
military prowess of European nations were with- 
drawn. Most fortunately, they see the uselessness 
of declaring a Jahad, or religious war, at a time 
when their military glory is being trailed in the 
dust wherever there is a tendency on their part to 
revive it. 

But while the superior power of European nations 
is rightly employed in restraining the outbreaks of 
Moslem fanaticism, the missionary must have re- 
course to milder methods and demonstrations. He 
must on no account allow the peculiar difficulties, 
arising from the bigotry and hatred of Mussulmans, 
to drive him to despair ; nor must he forget that 
he has a sure foundation to build upon in their pro- 
verbial restlessness. They are not apathetic, like the 



Mohammedanism. 115 

Hindus, and the missionary may hope more from 
active opposition than moral stagnation and religious 
indifference. And if he begin by trying to raise 
their current ideas of greatness, or substitute for 
them such as are in accord with a correct estimate of 
things, and thereby leads them to the real source of 
their restlessness, his labors will not be in vain. To 
convince them by arguments of the erroneousness of 
their position, though at first sight easy, would ap- 
pear, upon close inspection, or after a fair period of 
trial, almost impossible. Not that argument of a 
conclusive nature fitted to undermine the claims of 
their Prophet are wanting. They literally abound, 
and we may say to Mohammed what is said to the 
servant with one talent not improved, " Out of thy 
own mouth shall we judge thee." He appeals to 
our own Scriptures, and these do not in the slightest 
degree substantiate his claims ; nay, they militate 
against his pretensions, and bring him forward, and 
many a self-styled prophet since his day, with the 
brand of imposture on his forehead. But pride of 
logic must be laid aside, and persuasive exhortations 
fitted to raise their ideas and aspirations in general, 
and awaken in them the consciousness of sin, which 
they so obviously lack, and which is invariably a pre- 
requisite of conversion, may accomplish what defini- 
tions and syllogisms fail to perform. 



116 Doomed Eeligions. 



BRAHMANISM.* 



BY REV. T. J. SCOTT, D.D., 

PRESIDENT OF BAREILLY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF NORTH INDIA. 

BEAHMANISM is a term used to designate a 
remarkable system of religion having its origin 
in India, and its chief development before the Chris- 
tian era. Some of the more primitive ideas of the 
system, undoubtedly, were brought to India by the 
first Hindu immigration. The name is taken from 
the Brahmans, or priesthood, among the Hindus. 
There is no well-defined limit to a discussion of this 
subject. Just as an account of Judaism might be 
confined to a discussion of the doctrines and cere- 
monies of the Jews as enjoined in the laws of Moses, 
or enlarged to include something of the civil aspects 
of the Jewish polity, and the historical development 
of the whole subject, so might an account of Brah- 

* We have chosen this title rather than Hinduism, because the re- 
ligion of the Hindus is all from Brahmanic sources. As commonly 
used, these are names of the same religion. Brahmanism, derived 
from the priests, who are called Brahmans, and Hinduism from the 
people. This is emphatically the religion of India, Mohammedanism 
being an exotic from Arabia, as Parseeism is from Persia. In round 
numbers we may declare that there are in India 170,000,000 of people 
of this faith.— J. M. R. 



Brahmanism. 117 

manism take greater or less range. The aim of this 
paper will be to give a plain and comprehensive 
view in several aspects of this unique system of re- 
ligion, to show its place in the development of civil- 
ization and thought, and to indicate its relation to 
the question of evangelism in India. Such a discus- 
sion will take us over something of the (a) history, 
Q>) literature, (c) religion, (d) philosophy, and (e) pres- 
ent condition and prospects of the system. Much of 
this must, of course, be brief. 

I. Historical Development. 

The Hindus are a branch of the great Aryan fam- 
ily which, at a very early period, spread abroad from 
their home, somewhere in Western Asia, most likely 
from the basin of the Caspian Sea, either from 
Northern Persia or the table-lands of Tartary. 
Ethnologically they are of the same race as those 
who speak the English language. It is probable that 
the Aryan immigration entered India sometime be- 
tween 1800 and 1400 B. C. The first Aryan immi- 
grants settled in the country bordering the river In- 
dus, then called by the Persians Hindhu, hence the 
Aryan settlers were called by them Hindus. From 
the borders of the Indus they spread into the north- 
western part of India, now called the Punjab, or land 
of the five rivers. From the Punjab they moved 
eastward till they reached the basin of the Ganges, 



IIS Doomed Religions. 

down which the wave of growing population flowed 
till the Hindus became a mighty race, conquering 
and occupying the whole of the great peninsula, now 
called from their name, by dropping the h, India. 
They were a powerful and warlike nation w r hen 
Alexander crossed the Indus and invaded India, about 
331 B. C. Even before this early period the Hindus 
had developed an intellectual and religious life of 
profound depth and great strength. They had grap- 
pled with the philosophical problems of life and 
being in a most wonderful manner. The system of 
caste had been formed, and the Brahmans or priest- 
hood had usurped a position of universal dominance 
in the social fabric. They had already framed the 
religious system which is to be described in these 
pages. The invasion of Alexander merely touched 
the rim of the great Hindu race. For centuries they 
had been left shut up to themselves, while great 
waves of conquest and commotion passed over the 
world west of them. For centuries after the time 
when Alexander reached the borders of India they 
still remained shut in from the surrounding world, 
but active in the development of literature, philoso- 
phy, religion, and civilization, but not without 
mighty internal convulsions. Some communication 
they had with other nations, but it seems manifest, 
from a study of the subject, that in ancient times 
India gave much more to the world than she re- 



Brahmanism. 119 

ceived. We have traces of intercourse between 
India and the countries ruled by Rome on the one 
hand, and of some communication with China on the 
east at an early day. But India seems to have been 
more of a teacher than learner. This makes the 
developments we are here studying the more re- 
markable. Colebrook, a profound student of Hindu 
philosophy, thought the philosophy of Pythagoras, 
who flourished, perhaps, at the close of the sixth 
century B. C, was largely borrowed from India. 
Epiphanius and Eusebius accuse the Scythians of 
having brought from India, in the second century, 
heretical doctrines leading to Manicheism. We have 
accounts of Chinese pilgrims and students visiting 
India as early as the fourth century of the Chris- 
tian era. When the Aryans first crossed the high 
mountain chain that girts, like a vast wall, the north- 
west border of India, they were nomadic tribes, who 
had also acquired habits of husbandry. They cared 
for their flocks, and tilled the soil. In the word 
" arable," fit for tillage, we have a plain echo indi- 
cating the occupation of the ancient Aryans. At 
that distant epoch they were nature worshipers, bow- 
ing before the powers that blazed in the sun, cheered 
them in the refreshing rain, moved in the wind, 
gleamed in the lightning, and spoke to them in the 
thunder. A simple priesthood was formed, which in 
time developed into a mighty hierarchy, the most 



120 Doomed Religions. 

absolute and arrogant the world ever saw. A caste 
system was formed that made the Brahman divine, 
and subordinated and fastened in its iron grip all 
other classes. Then followed philosophical specula- 
tions, in which a remarkable attempt was made to 
give a solution of the origin, nature, and destiny of 
all things. In time, also, there came revolts against 
the arrogant supremacy of the Brahmanic priesthood, 
modifying to some extent the system. Such was 
Buddhism and Jainism. It was impossible that hu- 
man nature, without a struggle, should submit to 
such exorbitant pretensions as were made by Brah- 
mans, or endure that complex and extravagant cere- 
monial system which they had fabricated. Bud- 
dhism is supposed to have been a revolt against Brah- 
manism, occurring some centuries previous to the 
Christian era. Buddha, also called Sakya Muni and 
Gautama, was born at the base of the Himalayas, 
probably in the sixth century B. C. The doctrine of 
this remarkable man spread, and he in time gained 
s»h a following that, for at least a thousand years, 
this faith held a dominant position in a large part of 
India. A long struggle was carried on with Bral> 
manism, by which it was at last expelled, and a Brah- 
manical revival followed. Buddhism retained a foot- 
hold in Ceylon, Burmah, and parts of the Himalayas. 
It found a new home in Thibet and China. 

Jainism was an offshoot or after-growth of Bud- 



Brahmanism. 121 

dhism, apparently left behind as that system was driven 
from the country. Perhaps its most distinguishing 
tenet is a denial of the divine origin and infallibility 
of the Yedas. Brahmanism, having fully re-asserted 
itself, developed into a system of degrading idolatry 
and puerile ceremonies, and the recognition of an 
innumerable host of divinities forming the absurd 
system now encountered by the missionaries. 

II. The Literature Representing this System. 

As stated, India for many centuries was almost 
entirely isolated from the world, in herself a world 
of activity and thought. The fact of the existence 
of a vast and varied literature, dating back in its 
older parts to a very early period of the race, is a 
discovery made by the Western nations which have 
over-run this wonderful country in the last hundred 
years. At the close of the last century, and early in 
the present, men like Sir W. Jones and Thomas 
Colebrooke, and later Drs. Wilson and Ballantyne, 
Muir, Max Miiller, Monier Williams, and others, 
have brought to light the existence of this wonderful 
literature. Of the language in which the literature 
is written Sir W. Jones said, a It is more perfect 
than Greek, more copious than Latin, and more ex- 
quisitely refined than either." When the fact be- 
came generally known that a literature of great 
antiquity and of subtle speculation had been discov- 



122 Doomed Religions. 

ered among the Hindus, some "Western savants and 
archaeologists imagined that a great flood of light 
was about to be poured on the world, illuminating 
many of the vexed problems of history, science, 
and religion. Some even thought that the claims 
of the Bible would be severely tested by the revela- 
tions of this new-found mine of ancient facts and 
knowledge and wisdom. To the antiquarian and stu- 
dent of the general history, intellectual and moral, of 
the race, this literature was certainly a great " find," 
but toward the solution of any of the vexed prob- 
lems it has contributed but little. It certainly re- 
veals a remarkable development of the human 
intellect at a very early date, a development largely 
independent, and perhaps greater on the whole than 
that made by any of the great nations of antiquity. 
Keightly, a careful w r riter on India, says," A contem- 
plative people, as the Hindus are, must early have 
turned their thoughts to the subjects denominated 
metaphysical. We accordingly find that all the 
theories on that subject, formed by the Greeks or by 
the moderns, were already familiar to the sages of 
India. Thus the . system devised by the excellent 
Bishop Berkeley, and developed and explained by hir^ 
with so much ingenuity and elegance, was known 1 
India centuries before our era. So, also, the atom- 
istic theory on which Epicurus founded his philoso- 
phy was long familiar to the Hindus. In astronomy 



Bbahmanism. 123 

the Hindus had advanced far beyond the Greeks. 
They were acquainted with the precession of the 
equinoxes, they knew the causes of eclipses, and had 
constructed tables by which they might be accurately 
calculated. Some of their sages had discovered the 
diurnal revolution of the earth on its own axis, and 
had even, with tolerable accuracy, calculated its diame- 
ter. A passage in the Yedas asserts that the pole star 
changes its position, the constellations are named in 
the epic poems, and the fixed stars are spoken of as 
bodies of great magnitude which shine by their own 
native light. In geometries the Hindus had made 
discoveries which were not made in Europe till 
modern times. Such were the mode of expressing 
the area of a triangle in terms of its sides, and that 
of expressing the proportion of the radius to the 
diameter of a circle. In arithmetic they are entitled 
to the fame of the invention of the decimal system 
of notation. But in algebra the merits of the Hin- 
dus are still greater, and discoveries not made in 
Europe till the last century were familiar in India 
for centuries before. This, however, is the latest of 
their sciences, and the works which treat of it have 
all been written since the commencement of our era. 
Finally the Hindus were versed in trigonometry, in 
which they went far beyond the Greeks, and were 
acquainted with theorems not discovered in Europe 
till the sixteenth century. All the subtleties of 



124 Doomed Religions. 

logic and the refinements of grammar are to be met 
with in Sanskrit works on these subjects. In the 
copious poetic literature of India the niceties and 
varieties of meter are as numerous as in that of 
ancient Greece." And yet with all these splendid 
discoveries, and with wonderful and profound specu- 
lations in philosophy, Monier Williams, one of the 
best students of the Sanskrit literature, speaks of the 
remarkable " puerilities " scattered through it. 

A brief outline of the principal books will indi- 
cate w T hat this literature is. The system of Brahman- 
ism has its roots in almost the whole of this vast 
soil. It is not a system found in one but in many 
books. Like the literature, it is a growth of thou- 
sands of years. History, philosophy, science, poetry, 
all are either the origin or the outgrowth of this 
vast religious system. 

The literature, in the order in which it developed, 
begins with Vedas. The word Yeda means knowl- 
edge or perception, and at base is the same with 
Latin videre, to see, to understand. There are four, 
the Rig Yeda, Yajur Yeda, Sama Yeda, and Atharva 
Veda. By the best authorites it is claimed that they 
were written many centuries before the Christian 
era. The first is the oldest, and it is held by those 
best able to pronounce on this subject that, except- 
ing portions of the Bible, it is the oldest book in 
existence. Max Miiller, who has spent more than 



Brahmanism. 125 

twenty years in the study of the Eig Veda, holds 
that it existed in its present form at least a thousand 
or twelve hundred years before the Christian era. 
The Sanskrit, in which it is written, is very difficult 
to understand. It is supposed that the older Yedas 
I were brought to India by the Hindus. 

The Yedas consists of two parts : first, of Mantaras, 
or religious hymns ; second, Brahmanas, or ritual di^ 
rections. They are thus the earliest religious books 
of the Hindus. Some hymns are common in all the 
Vedas, as we find a few psalms repeated in the 
Bible. They reveal something of the condition and 
religious thought of this people at that early day. 
The hymns are addressed to the powers of nature, 
fire, air, the rain, the winds, and to the sun and moon. 
Still there is indication of a conception of a sublime 
monotheism in the Yedas. 

As to the character and style of these books Max 
Miiller says, of the hymns of Eig Yeda, that " they 
contain very little poetry of an agreeable or elevated 
order, nothing whatever that could be compared with 
the Psalms of David. As mere literary productions, 
apart from their archaic value, I doubt if any man 
could be found to read them." The following is a 
specimen of these hymns : 

1. Thou art called forth to this fair sacrifice for a draught of milk; 
with the maruts come hither Agni! * 

* The maruts are the winds, or wind gods. Note the refrain. 



126 Doomed Keligiosts. 

2. No god indeed, no mortal is beyond the might of thee the 
mighty one ; with maruts, etc. 

3. They who know of the great sky ; the Yisve Devas without guile ; 
with the maruts, etc. 

4. The wild ones who sing their song, unconquerable by force; 
with the maruts, etc. 

5. They who are brilliant of awful shape, powerful and devourers 
of foes ; with the maruts, etc. 

6. They who in heavens are enthroned as gods in the light of the 
firmament; with the maruts, etc. 

7. They who toss the clouds across the surging sea, with the 
maruts, etc. 

8. They who shoot with their darts across the sea with might, with 
the maruts, etc. 

9. I pour out to thee for the early draught the sweet juice of 
Soma ; with the maruts, etc. 

The TJjpanishadS) fifty-two in number, are theo- 
logical commentaries on the Vedas. The term 
" ITpanishad," seems to mean sitting near a teacher. 
The idea is, perhaps, that the Yedas are the teach- 
ers, and in these commentaries the learner sits at 
their feet. These books propose to reveal the true 
import of the Vedas. 

As time passed on and the Yedas became a lit- 
tle antiquated, and the Hindu sages settled in their 
quiet homes in India began to indulge in higher 
speculations, these books were composed to meet 
the greater intellectual requirements of a thinking 
people. The Upanishads contain the mystical doc- 
trines of the Brahmans on the nature of Brahm or 
supreme spirit, and its relations to the human soul 
and to the evolution of the universe. These books 



Brahmanism. 1 27 

inculcate a sublime monotheism, which is also panthe- 
istic in its conception. 

The Vedangas (limbs of the Yedas) are a class 
of books, six in number, related to the Vedas, treat- 
ing of their pronunciation, and of the manner in 
which they should be read. They seem to be a kind 
of grammatico-exegetical treatment of the Yedas. 

The Tantaras are a class of books somewhat nu- 
merous, but six of them in particular are called by 
the Hindu teachers devoted to them, the " Fifth Ve- 
da." They are supposed to have been written about 
the beginning of the Christian era. They inculcate 
the worship of nature, or the mystic powers, and 
seem to be based on the idea that the highest and 
most perfect form of the worship of the Supreme 
Being is that carried on amid drunkenness, licentious- 
ness, and every kind of excess. There was some- 
thing here of the phallic worship of the Greeks and 
of the depravities of Gnosticism. 

The six Shastras (meaning instrument to effect 
any thing) or Darshanas (meaning " observation,") are 
among the most important of the Hindu books in un- 
derstanding this system of religion. Their exact date 
is not known, but some of them were certainly com- 
posed before the Christian era. They contain the six 
celebrated systems of Hindu philosophy. In them spec- 
ulation reached its profoundest depths. In them the 
Brahmanic intellect reached the climax of its power. 



128 Doomed Religions. 

Nothing greater was ever attempted. The debris of 
those remarkable systems, scattered, fragmentary, and 
re-arranged, lies strewn through the writings and be- 
liefs of later ages. These Shastras treat of the origin 
and nature of the universe, and of the bondage and 
liberation of the human soul. One of them contains 
the system of logic in use among the Hindus. 

The Dharam Shastra, or Institutes of Manu, is a 
code of civil as well as of religious laws. The author, 
Manu, lived 800 B.C. His code is still administered 
in part in the courts of British India. This code 
consists of three parts : 

1. Rules of conduct. 

2. Judicature, or mode of justice. 

3. Penance and punishments. 

The Purans are a class of books, eighteen in num- 
ber, which are largely responsible for the more mod- 
ern character of the Brahmanic religion and worship. 
They claim antiquity, as their name indicates. They 
belong to different ages, and the opinion of scholars 
is that most of them were written after the beginning 
of the Christian era. Some of them are assigned to 
the twelfth, thirteenth, and even to the sixteenth 
century. In religious matters greater authority is 
claimed for antiquity, hence the desire on the part 
of the followers of these books to place their compo- 
sition far back in the past. The contents of these 
books may be grouped into six heads : 



Bkahmanism. 129 

1. Primary creation. Cosmogony. 

2. The destruction and renovation of the universe. 
Chronology. 

3. The genealogy of the gods. 

4. The reigns of the manus, or rulers of the differ- 
ent ages. 

5. The history of the Solar and Lunar races, names 
used to designate an ancient division of the Hindu 
people into children of the sun and children of the 
moon. The idolatry, polytheism, and puerilities of 
later Brahmanism are largely drawn from these books. 

There are also eighteen supplementary Purans 
similar in character, as far as known, to the others. 

The Ramayan and the Mahabharat are two great 
epics of high antiquity, known every-where among 
the Hindus, which have exercised a profound influ- 
ence on the religious thought and feeling of this 
people. These heroic poems are to Hinduism what 
the Iliad and Odyssey were to the Greeks and the 
^Eneid to the Romans. It is doubtful if any great 
poems have exercised so vast an influence over any 
people, as these over the Hindus. 

The Ramayan is the older of these two epics, 
claimed to have been written by Valmiki. Scholars 
seem to find it imposssble to fix the date of this poem, 
but it is placed after the Yedic age, and was most 
likely written before the Christian era. It is sup- 
posed to have been like many ancient poems, oral at 



130 Doomed Eeligions. 

first. It consists of seven books and 24,000 sloks or 
verses. It recounts the exploits of Earn Chandra, 
son of Dasarath, and fifth incarnation of Vishnu, the 
second person of the Hindu Trinity. Like the Iliad 
and JEneid, it recounts the doings and sayings of 
numerous gods and goddesses. There is a celebrated 
translation of it in vernacular Hindi, by Tulsi Das, 
read and quoted by millions of Hindus. English 
metrical translations have been made, one of which, by 
Mr. Griffith, Principal of the Benares Sanskrit Col- 
lege, was reviewed in the " Methodist Quarterly Ee- 
view," by Eev. B. H. Badley.* 

The Mahabharat is an inmense epic written later 
than the Eamayan. It consists of 220,000 long lines 
or verses, divided into eighteen large books. It has 
been described as "a cyclopedia of Hindu my- 
thology, legendary history, and philosophy " — a vast 
thesaurus of national legends. The leading story re- 
lates to the wars of the Pandus and Kurus, two lead- 
ing branches of the great Hindu family, in their 
struggle for royal supremacy. The Bhagavad Gita 
is a long philosophical episode, in the Mahabharat, 
supposed to be an interpolation, which has exerted a 
great influence over the religion of the Hindus. It 
has been ably reviewed in the " Methodist Quarterly 
Eeview," by a Christian convert, Babu Earn Chandra 
Bose.f 

* January, 1880. f October, 1881. 



Bkahmanism. 131 

This completes a brief outline of tlie historical, 
religious, legal, and philosophical literature of the 
Hindus, from which the great system of Brahman- 
ism must be learned. The inspired authority for it, 
as claimed by the Brahmans, is found in all these 
books. The reader will at once be struck with the 
vastness of the sources of this system as compared 
with Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and, perhaps, every 
other religion in the world. Here are the four Yedas, 
the fifty-two Upanishads, the six Vedangas, the 
numerous Tantaras, six of which are more important, 
the six Darshanas, or philosophical systems, the Dhar- 
am Shastra, or Institutes of Manu, the eighteen Pu- 
ranas, with their eighteen supplements, and two vast 
heroic poems. Here is a great library of so-called 
inspired books, besides others not here mentioned. 
It would be inferred at once, as is fact, that no one 
Brahman ever reads or studies more than a small part 
of these books, existing as they do in the Sanskrit, 
now no longer a spoken language. It will be cor- 
rectly inferred, also, that the religious belief and 
practice of one part of the country must differ from 
that of other parts. In answering the question, then, 
What is Brahmanism? it will be seen how much must 
be grouped and unified. The essential and non-essen- 
tial, the authorized and unauthorized, must be dis- 
criminated. Brahmans themselves are not agreed, 
and while we write the whole vast system is begin- 



132 Doomed Religions. 

ning to melt away, penetrated by the beams of the 
Sun of righteousness. In view of the difference and 
controversies and variations in practice and belief of 
Christendom, as represented in the three great branch- 
es of the Church, Catholic, Greek, and Protestant, 
with their subdivisions, if one were to ask, What is 
Christianity? how difficult the answer might seem. 
But by grouping the great points on which they 
all seem to unite, and taking the leading ideas 
plainly taught in their inspired book, the New Testa- 
ment, we could bring together a system that might 
justly be called Christianity. Similarly we may find 
a broad, just, outline view of Brahmanism. 

III. The Religion of Brahmanism 

May be presented in a brief statement of certain 
leading ideas and practices found in the system. The 
reader must bear in mind that these ideas and prac- 
tices are the growth of ages. In studying the Hindu 
system of religion the different stages of growth are 
clearly marked. We have the Yedic, or primitive 
period ; the Brahmanic period, when the sacerdotal 
system was fully developed ; the philosophic period, 
when the speculative intellect was at its climax ; the 
Puranic period of decline, when idolatry and myth- 
ology had overlaid the system with innumerable 
puerilities and excrescences. This stage is so-called 
from the Puranic literature which most fully repre- 



Brahmanism. 133 

sents it. Finally, we have an age of skeptical tend- 
ency and indigenous reform, now passing. These 
might be represented respectively in the Jewish sys- 
tem by the patriarchal age, the Mosaic period, and 
the purer days of the Aaronic priesthood ; the period 
when the Book of Ecclesiastes was written ; the age 
of rabbinical traditions and puerilities ; and, finally, by 
the semi-skepticism of modern Judaisim. The phi- 
losophy of the system will be given more at length in 
a separate statement. As a system, it has produced 
such a profound and all-pervading influence on the 
Hindu mind that it deserves a little fuller study. In 
a system that has developed through so long a period, 
and which is so multiform, perfect consistency must 
not be expected. 

1. Nature-worship is the most primitive form of 
the Hindu religion. As already indicated, the Yedas, 
the most ancient books, present the early Aryans as 
worshipers of the sun and moon, of fire, of the 
winds, and other elements and powers. Hymns were 
addressed to these objects of nature, and offerings 
and sacrifices were made for them. The form of this 
nature-worship changed in time, but even now the 
sun and moon and certain stars are objects of adora- 
tion. Some rivers are held sacred. The hidden 
power in certain diseases is appeased by offerings. 
The vague worship of the powers of nature gradually 
passed into a well-defined — 



134 Doomed Eeligions. 

2. Polytheism. The powers and objects of nature 
received names as gods and goddesses, and began to 
live more and have their being amid terrestrial and 
celestial scenes and activities. In the Vedas the 
supreme god seems to be Indra, the deified firma- 
ment. We find Yaruna, the god of the waters, Agni, 
of fire. The earth is a goddess, and certain waters 
are goddesses. The process of deifying objects went 
on until earth and sky were peopled with an innumer- 
able host. Sun, moon, and stars, light, earth, air, 
rain, rivers, and mountains had their gods and god- 
desses. Arts and sciences came in for their patron 
divinities. There were lares and penates — gods of 
the house or family, as well as gods national and pro- 
vincial. These gods and goddesses married and inter- 
married, and, as time rolled on, the w r orld of Hindu 
mythology developed into a multitude, beside/ which 
the gods of Greece and of Rome seem as nothing. 
To this hour these have their votaries among the 
masses. The facetious charge, that Athens had more 
gods than men, is actually true in India, as by some 
arithmetic the Hindus count up 330,000,000 divini- 
ties. The following point may be inferred from this 
vast system of polytheism : 

3. Idolatry is a natural outgrowth of polytheism. 
The gods with a name must have a local habita- 
tion and visible representation. The progress from 
nature-worship through polytheism to idolatry in its 



Brahmanism. 135 

grossest form is natural and easy. Images were 
framed and idols, animate and inanimate, were seized 
upon. Hindus worship the cow, bull, elephant, lion, 
monkey, dog, cat, squirrel, kite, blue jay, fish, turtle, 
snake, ant, etc. We meet illustrations of the grossest 
fetichism. Representation of the gods in statuary 
and by pictures, of course, was attempted. Many of 
these are hideous and repulsive. Some are many- 
headed and many-armed. Some are hybrids of man 
and beast. Some are represented in acts of cruelty 
and diabolism. The Hindus never developed the 
artistic genius of the Greeks and Romans in statuary 
and painting. This is the more remarkable, seeing 
how in some directions they excelled in intellectuality. 
In some places, as in the cave of Elephanta, near 
Bombay, a certain grandeur bas been attained in co- 
lossal statuary of the gods, but as a rule the attempts 
of the Hindus at such representations are rude and 
often ludicrous. India is literally full of idols, but 
they are generally trees, rivers, rude pictures, stocks, 
stones, and even clods of earth. The worshiper will 
often improvise an idol by taking a little clay and 
working up a ball or rude figure before which to 
bow. A Brahman will sit and make hundreds of 
these temporary shifts and pass them to the by- 
standers. 

A very common idol is simply a large pebble or 
river-stone, set up and called Mahadev, or the great 



136 Doomed Religions. 

god, the name of the third in the Hindu Trinity. 
Such will be found in countless temples and " under 
every green tree." Wrought and molten images of 
brass and the precious metals are numerous. Many 
images are cut from marble. 

The Brahman defends the system by urging that 
for the common and uninitiated mass the idol is need- 
ful to lead the mind of the worshiper to the divinity, 
and fix the attention. This hint indicates that there 
is an esoteric or inside view of things presenting an- 
other phase of Brahmanism now to be mentioned. 

4. Monotheism, in a certain sense, is also held by 
Hindus. Max Miiller, perhaps the greatest living stu- 
dent of the Vedas, calls the earliest form of worship 
among the Hindus henotheism, to distinguish it from 
monotheism, a later religious development. By 
henotheism* he means the worship of one god among 
many, without denying their existence or right to 
the worship of such as may care to follow them, 
while monotheism f is the worship of a supreme God, 
the ruler of all. A henotheist might admit co-rule 
or a division of rule among the gods. In the Yedas 
one god after another is invoked, and for the time 
the one addressed seems to be supreme. In the same 
way at the present day the adherence of the Hindus 
is divided among a number of gods, each one of 

* From the Greek hen, one ; but not excluding others. 
fFrom the Greek rnonos, alone; without a second. 



Brahmanism. 137 

which seems to be all-sufficient to the follower. Still 
it seems plain that at a very early age the idea of one 
Supreme Being was grasped by religious teachers 
among the Hindus, and the doctrine of monotheism 
was inculcated, bat with an attempt generally to ac- 
commodate it to the polytheistic idea in some form. 
Hindus claim that their most ancient books teach the 
unity of God. The Upanishads, or ancient commen- 
taries on the Vedas, do teach such unity, but in a 
pantheistic sense. The following definition of the 
deity, as taught in the Yedas, was given by a learned 
Brahman : " Perfect truth, perfect happiness, without 
equal, immortal, absolute unity, whom neither speech 
can describe, nor mind comprehend; all-pervading, 
all-transcending; delighted with his own boundless 
intelligence ; not limited by time or space ; without 
feet, moving swiftly; without hands, grasping all 
worlds; without eyes, all-surveying; without ears, 
all-hearing ; without any intelligent guide, under- 
standing all ; without cause, the first of all causes ; 
all-ruling, all-powerful, the creator, the preserver, and 
the transformer of all things ; such is the Great One." 
The idea of a supreme Creator and Ruler was held by 
the ancient Hindus, and at the present time in any 
village, even among the unlearned, many will be 
found who believe in a God supreme over all others. 
While he is often invoked, nevertheless the common 
thought is that the more immediate dealing of the 



138 Doomed Keligions. 

worshiper must be with inferior deities as his depu- 
ties or servants. But many will be found who claim 
to have reached the highest form of truth, now to be 
mentioned. 

5. Pantheism has widely pervaded Hindu thought. 
This was the latest deduction of the speculative intel- 
lect among the Hindus. They had passed through 
the stage of polytheism, had reached the idea of God 
supreme over all, and ended by concluding that 
apart from this God nothing else exists. When the 
Hindus were permanently settled in their home in 
India, and the priestly caste had become the learned 
order, placed beyond want or the necessity of man- 
ual toil, leisure brought them opportunity for con- 
templation and profound speculation ; the question of 
the origin, nature, and destiny of the universe would 
be pressed upon them as it always is when the 
mind reaches a high state of cultivation and thought. 
Pantheism was evolved. The doctrine is that God 
alone exists. He is eternal and self-existent. The 
universe is but a multiform manifestation of his 
being and power. A fuller elucidation of this doc- 
trine will be given farther on. 

It is a fact, not very remarkable perhaps, that the 
human mind, when left to mere speculation, in its at- 
tempts to solve the problem of the universe, ends in 
the unity of pantheism. It was so in Greece, it is so 
in modern Europe. The doctrine of pantheism as 



Brahmanism. 139 

taught in the ITpanishad, in the Yedanta philosophy, 
and in the Bhagavad Gita, has exercised a wide- 
spread influence on the belief of the Hindus. The 
common mass do not now, and certainly never did, 
comprehend the doctrine in all its subtleties. Com- 
paratively few pure pantheists are met who hold the 
doctrine intelligently, yet a wide-spread notion exists 
that, somehow, God is not only over all and in all, 
but is the author of all, and is all that is or appears 
to be. Hence one will constantly find the most 
untutored Hindus affirming that God does all, that 
he is responsible for all, that apart from him 
there is nothing ; that every manifestation of exist- 
ence is simply a part of God, and that ultimately 
every thing is resolved or lost in deity. This will be 
stated by the unlearned without any attempt to un- 
derstand or explain the wonderful fact. 

Thus the subtleties of a system elaborated two 
thousand five hundred years ago, in the form of a 
vague belief, have spread through distant generations. 
It is impossible to estimate the blighting, pervert- 
ing effect of this belief on the masses. The two 
following doctrines are natural deductions from the 
pantheistic idea. 

6. The doctrine of Fate is taught by the Brah- 
mans. The philosophical idea seems to be that some 
irresistible and inexorable power or order of things 
produces all that is and comes to pass. A popular 



140 Doomed Religions. 

notion is that all one's destiny is traced on the inside 
of the forehead on the cranium, and a common say- 
ing is, " The lines of fate cannot be erased." An- 
other common idea is that all the actions and events 
of the present life are the unavoidable sequence of a 
preceding life. It is surprising how wide-spread 
this notion of a stern inflexible order of things is. 
It is met in every city and hamlet from one end of 
India to the other. The writer may repeat here 
what he has written as a result of constant observa- 
tion in India : " This doctrine of fate furnishes a 
sad example of the wide-spread blighting influence 
a vicious idea or doctrine can work when generally 
received. The idea of fate has repressed and blight- 
ed and vitiated human life as the breath of a vast 
and deadly pestilence. Every bud and opening flower 
of virtue seems blasted by it, every growth of vice 
and crime seems fostered by it. It crushes human 
progress in good, but forms a favorable atmosphere 
for the development of wickedness. Thieves, rob- 
bers, murderers, and monsters of debauchees com- 
placently offer, as an apology for their stealing, rob- 
bing, murdering, and debauchery, " kismat " (fate.) 

Poor wretches plod on in a most miserable kind 
of livelihood, taking from time to time a dismal sort 
of comfort in the reflection that it is their fate. 
The cultivator looks over his blasted crops, and set- 
tles himself down to a season of stint and partial 



Brahmanism. 141 

inactivity, placing all his misfortunes to the credit of 
fate. Fate is the cause of all adversity, of all pros- 
perity. Miserable wretches, firm in the fatalistic 
faith, who all their life-time have deemed their ups 
and downs the allotment of "an unalterable decree," 
not unfrequently go and hang themselves to escape 
fate, illogically enough to be sure. Great lazy louts 
of beggars wander about the country, asking for alms ; 
and, to a suggestion to go to work for a living, they 
reply, with an air of calm resignation worthy of a 
better cause, "Kismat." Again and again hearers 
reply to us in a passive, unconcerned tone : a If it is 
in our fate we will adopt your religion." " It is well 
that the native instincts and impulses of human 
nature often and in many things rise superior to a 
debasing idea, otherwise the evil wrought would be 
much greater than it is." 

The philosopher, Cousin, wrote of the Bhagavad 
Gita, one of the chief books inculcating pantheism 
as held by the Brahmans : " You will comprehend 
how before this kind of theism, at once terrible and 
chimerical and represented in extravagant and gigan- 
tic symbols, human nature must have trembled and 
denied itself ; how art, in its powerless attempt to 
represent being in itself, must have risen without 
limit to colossal and irregular creations ; how God 
being all and man nothing, a formidable theocracy 
must have pressed upon humanity, taking from it all 



142 Doomed Keligions. 

liberty, all movement, all practical interest, and con- 
sequently all true morality. And again, you will 
comprehend how man, despising himself, has not 
been able to take any thought for recalling the mem- 
ory of his actions ; how there is no history of man, 
and no chronology in India." 

7. The doctrine of Transmigration is taught by 
the Brahmans, and is found in their sacred literature, 
except the Yedas, which contain no distinct refer- 
ence to the re-appearance of the soul on earth. It is 
universally held by the Hindus. It follows logically 
from the pantheistic idea. If multiform life and 
existence is at base unity, all the varied manifesta- 
tions of life are but waves thrown upon the restless 
bosom of the vast ocean, to toss awhile, then sink 
and mingle with the common tide, perhaps to rise 
again in some altered form. This is the philosophic 
idea. The common conception is, that the soul pass- 
es through repeated births, in which it is rewarded 
or punished for deeds of preceding births. Even 
the highest bliss of Paradise is only temporary, for 
the soul, having exhausted its stock of accumulated 
virtue, will enter in some way on its weary round 
again. It is supposed by some that the Buddhistic 
philosophy sought an escape from this in the doctrine 
of Nirvan, or final annihilation. 

The query will occur to the thoughtful reader, that 
if all things are at base a simple divine unity, how do 



Brahmanism. 143 

souls, in the first place, start on this round of reward 
and punishment, or, when absorbed into deity, how 
and why do they take up the round again ? The dif- 
ficulty will disappear if the reader can enter into the 
Brahman's conception of the Supreme Being. The 
Christian idea of an all-wise, all-knowing, never- 
slumbering Being must be laid aside. In his highest 
estate he is without thought or feeling or attribute. 
In this state of carelessness or forgetfulness, or by his 
will, souls in some way are separated and escape, and 
the rounds of birth are gyrations, so to speak, by 
which they ascend again to the Supreme Unity. It 
is as if one, in a moment of bewilderment or thought- 
lessness or for amusement, allowed some thought or 
portion of soul to escape, which could return again 
only through penance and some form of purification. 
But there is no final escape, for the transmigration 
may be renewed in the same way in which it began. 
In the circle of transmigration one may be success- 
ively born as a man high or low, as an animal or in- 
sect, or even a tree. 

In the twelfth book of his Institutes, Manu gives 
various causes for different forms of birth. " The 
slayer of a Brahman, according to the degree of his 
guilt, is re-born as a dog, a boar, an ass, a camel, a bull, 
a goat, a sheep, a stag, a bird. A Brahman who 
drinks spirituous liquor will migrate into the bodies 
of a worm, an insect, a grasshopper, a fly feeding on 



144 Doomed Keligions. 

ordure, or some mischievous animal. A twice-born 
who steals (the gold of a Brahman) will pass a thou- 
sand times into the bodies of spiders, snakes, and 
chameleons, of aquatic monsters, or of murderous 
blood-thirsty demons. He who violates the bed of 
his gv/ru [religious teacher] will a hundred times mi- 
grate into the forms of grasses, of shrubs, and of 
creeping plants, of carnivorous animals and beasts 
with long teeth, or of cruel brutes. Those who in- 
flict injury on sentient beings become flesh eaters, 
and those who eat forbidden things, worms. Thieves 
become devourers of each other, and those who em- 
brace women of the lowest castes become ghosts 
.... If a man, through covetousness, has stolen 
gems, pearl, or coral, or whatever belongs to the pre- 
cious substances, he is re-born in the tribe of gold- 
smiths. If he has stolen grain, he becomes a rat ; 
if kansya, (a composition of zinc and copper,) a hansa, 
a bird ; if water, a diver ; if honey, a gadfly ; if milk, 
a crow ; if juice of the sugar-cane or the like, a dog ; 
if clarified butter, an ichneumon ; if flesh, a vulture,' 1 
etc. The doctrine of the incarnations of the gods fol- 
lows easily from that of transmigration. The gods 
take on terrestrial bodies whenever required, and live 
and move among men. 

Vishnu, the second of the Hindu Trinity, appeared 
thus nine times, several of these in mere animal form. 
We have thus the fish, the turtle, the hog, and the 



Brahmanism. 145 

lion, incarnations of Yishnu, saying nothing of man 
with the head of a lion. 

8. JBrahmanism is a sacrificial and ritual system. 
The offering of sacrifices is found in the most prim- 
itive records of the Hindus. The Vedas abound in 
references to sacrifices. This custom of making sac- 
rifices and offerings came, no doubt, from a common 
source of sacrifice among all nations. Among the 
Hindus they have numerous points of resemblance 
to the Jewish sacrifices and offerings. As the Brah- 
manical priesthood was developed, the offering of 
sacrifices was elaborated into an extensive system, 
more minute and perplexing in its details than the 
Mosaic system. Many animals were offered, as the 
horse, buffalo, ox, sheep, goat, deer, hog, fowls, and 
even man. The horse was considered a very merito- 
rious sacrifice, and the ox was offered in the earliest 
days of Brahmanism, but in more modem times this 
animal is deemed too sacred for the immolator's knife. 
The custom of offering up the horse, also, seems to 
have entirely passed away. Human sacrifices are 
mentioned in the very early literature of the Hindus, 
and the custom existed in parts of India til] put down 
by British law. Kali, the moloch of Indian mythol- 
ogy, and wife of Shiva, the third of the Hindu Trin- 
ity, is best conciliated with human sacrifices. A 
common image of this goddess has a black body 

with red palms, a protruding tongue, dripping blood, 
10 



146 Doomed Religions. 

a girdle of dangling hands, and a necklace of skulls. 
The suttee, or widow immolation, was really a self-sac- 
rifice of the widow to the fire god. A passage in the 
Rig Yeda has been translated thus : " O fire, let the 
women with bodies anointed with butter, eyes cov- 
ered with collyrium, and void of tears, enter thee, 
that they may not be separated from their husbands." 
A passage in what is called the code of Angiras 
reads thus : " The woman who follows her husband 
to the pile expiates the sins of three generations on 
the paternal and maternal side of that family, to 
which she was given as a virgin." This horrid 
practice was finally suppressed by British law in 
1829. The import of sacrifices, so plainly set forth 
in the sacred books, is the expiation of sins and the 
appeasement of the gods. Besides the immolation of 
animals, oblations of butter in the fire, and libations 
of oil, water, milk, and the intoxicating juice of the 
soma plant, are made. All this is accompanied with 
ceremonial hymns, chants, prayers, the repetition of 
the names of deities, making vows, lamp waving, 
etc., too numerous to be detailed in a comprehensive 
sketch like this. 

Connected with the ritual system of Brahmanism 
are many ceremonies and duties, particularly of the 
priesthood, requiring much time and care. The sys- 
tem has many rites of purification relating to phys- 
ical impurity from touching the dead and from dis- 



Beahmanism. 147 

eases, contact with forbidden castes, or any kind of 
ceremonial defilement contracted. It has its ceremo- 
nies for birth, marriage, and death. It has its fasts 
and feasts, and sacred days and hallowed places, its 
temples and altars innumerable. The system is a 
vast burden intolerable in exaction, which neither the 
present generation nor their fathers were able to 
bear. The streaks of a glorious dawn of liberty are 
now seen in all the sky. 

9. Asceticism, as a religious idea, lies at the root of 
many ceremonies and customs of the Hindus. India 
swarms with mendicant orders, and millions who do 
not belong to any order of these professional monks 
are haunted with the notion that some kind of phys- 
ical mortification and self-torture is needed to spirit- 
ual purity and final salvation. Three leading ideas 
he at the base of the Brahmanical doctrine of asceti- 
cism : (1.) Evil is inherent in matter, which conse- 
quently must be treated as evil. (2.) Stoicism, or an 
attitude of indifference to pleasure and pain, is the 
route to soul deliverance. (3.) Merit and power are 
accumulated by ascetic practices. Much of this, it 
will be observed, is common to the asceticism of 
Christendom. In the Hindu system all priests are 
supposed to be to some extent ascetics. The secular 
is held in some way to be unhallowed. The better 
state is separation from the active practical world. 
These ascetic notions manifest themselves in a variety 



148 Doomed Religions. 

of teaching and practices. One of the six system of 
Hindu philosophy, the yug or yoke philosophy, is a 
kind of stoicism. It inculcates the idea that by pro- 
longed meditation, and by the restraint of the senses 
and feelings, by suppressing the breathing, by con- 
tinuing in certain bodily postures, great merit and 
magical power may be acquired. All this is com- 
pactly put in the following quotation from the 
Bhagavad Gita. 

11 That holy man who stands immovable, 
As if erect upon a pinnacle, 
His appetite and organs all subdued, 
Sated with knowledge, secular and sacred, 
To whom a lump of earth, a stone, or gold, 
To whom friends, relatives, acquaintances, 
Neutrals and enemies, the good and bad, 
Are all alike, is called, i one yoked with God/ " 

As intimated, a great variety of mendicant orders 
have sprung up under this teaching. The fakir, or re- 
ligious beggar, is one of the most prominent characters 
in India. Tens of thousands of these beggars wander 
over the country, or sit, grim and battered looking, in 
the jungles, and in caves and huts. Ascetic prac- 
tices are manifested in matter of food and clothing, 
of indifference to the world and of the claims of so- 
cial and domestic life, in bodily inflictions and tort- 
ures. It would take a volume to describe a tithe of 
what is taught and practiced. Starved, totally naked, 
gashed with knives, roasted, tortured into a living 
mummy with ossified joints, buried alive, and like 



Brahmanism. 149 

statements would describe thousands 01 miserable 
creatures voluntarily sacrificed to a mad idea. British 
law has interposed and checked some of these things 
by making their practice a penal offense. Humanity 
and decency have justified this legislation. 

10. Caste, as a religious phenomenon, has become 
one of the most marked ideas of Brahmanism. It is 
not merely a social system. A careful student of 
Hinduism, Professor Monier "Williams, writes : " It 
might almost, indeed, be inferred from the influence 
exerted by caste rules on the daily life of the Hindus, 
that the whole of their religion was centered in caste 
observances, and that Hinduism and caste were con- 
vertible terms. And, in point of fact, strictness in 
the maintenance of caste is the only real test of Hin- 
duism exacted by the Brahmans of the present day." 
A couplet from the Bhagavad Gita, says : 

11 Perfection is alone attained by him 

Who swerves not from the business of his caste." 

The teaching of Manu, the great Hindu lawgiver, 
is that distinct classes of men were created just as 
varieties of animals were made. Caste can be 
traced to a very early period in the history of the 
Hindu race. The myth at the base of the system is 
that the four great castes, the priesthood, the warrior 
caste, the merchant caste, and the tradesman or man- 
ual-labor caste, originated from separate progenitors, 



150 Doomed Beligions. 

springing respectively from the mouth, arms, thighs, 
and feet of Brahma, the first of the Hindu triad. 
The Yedas contain but little reference to caste. 
Later writings show that gradually a division of em- 
ployment was instituted which grouped society into 
four great divisions, which from a social convenience 
was craftily transformed by the Brahmans into a 
religious institution, the most inflexible and despotic 
system the world ever saw. 

The literature of the subject does not indicate that 
the Brahmans or priests were originally at the head 
of the social scale, but when a learned hierarchy was 
developed, they assumed divine honors and subordi- 
nated all others to their pleasure. In time, from a 
variety of causes, the four castes were subdivided and 
ramified into many subordinate castes. Loss of caste 
in some way, intermarriage, place of residence, and 
the kind of employment followed, are the chief causes 
that worked the subdivision of caste. There are 
many kinds of Brahmans who will not intermarry or 
eat together. The industrial or servant caste partic- 
ularly is extensively subdivided. Many of these 
lower castes seem entirely founded on the special in- 
dustry followed, as carpenter, blacksmith, oilman, 
barber, etc. 

The purpose of caste is to stereotype society and re- 
press all progress from lower to higher grades of social 
and industrial life. The rules of caste forbid intermar- 



Brahmanism. 151 

riage, social intercourse, and change of employment. 
Castes must not only refrain from eating together, but 
in many instances members of different castes must not 
touch each other. The violation of this rule will be 
defilement sufficient, perhaps, to make the offender an 
outcast, something more terrible than death. As a rule 
an orthodox Hindu would see those of another caste 
die rather than pass the bounds of caste to help them. 
For some infringements of caste, certain prescribed 
penalties and purifications work restoration. The 
rules of caste, as found in the sacred books, consign 
the lowest orders to ignorance and manual toil. 
Brahmans are not allowed to teach them the Vedas, 
or impart to them religious knowledge. It is impos- 
sible to estimate the blighting, obstructing, crushing 
influence of this wonderful social and religious sys- 
tem. It tends to defeat progress ; it fosters pride and 
arrogance; it represses the best sympathies of the 
human heart. It is, perhaps, the most inveterate and 
uncompromising enemy and the greatest obstacle in 
the way of the Gospel, ever encountered by mission- 
aries in any land. And yet this ancient stronghold, 
from its own inherent impossibilities, and from the 
effects of general enlightenment and Gospel truth, in 
recent times shows many signs of crumbling to pieces. 
11. The practice of polygamy may be noticed 
among the customs prevailing in the Brahmanical 
system. In very early days, the Hindu race seems 



152 Doomed Keligions. 

to have been much less polygamous than many an- 
cient peoples. At no time in their history have the 
Hindus been a grossly polygamous people. Traces of 
polygamy are found in the Vedas, and in later writ- 
ings the practice is recognized and justified by law, 
but under certain conditions. In the Institutes of 
Manu it is said, " A barren wife may be superseded 
by another in the eighth year ; she whose children are 
all dead, in the tenth ; she who brings forth only 
daughters, in the eleventh ; she who speaks unkindly, 
without delay." The superseding here mentioned is 
not the divorce of the first wife, but another wife is 
added, to become what the first fails to be. To the 
second, others, for the same reason, may be added. 
The law allowed a Brahman to marry four wives, the 
number sanctioned in the Koran for Mussulmans. 
Still monogamy is the common practice among all 
classes. A custom of extensive concubinage exists 
among princes and men of rank and wealth. 

A degrading kind of polygamy has grown up 
among Brahmans in Bengal, in more recent times, 
called Kulinism. Araja attempted to reform the 
Brahmanical order by dividing it into several classes. 
The first were called Kulin, the word meaning good 
or high family, and the Kulins were intended to be 
an order of special merit, representing exalted piety 
and learning. But the Kulin Brahman came in time 
to be esteemed only for high family rank. By law 



Brahmanism. 153 

they were allowed four wives, and the desire of other 
Brahmans to become allied with the highest rank 
led to the practice of many families contracting mar- 
riages with a single Kulin. Often large sums are 
given for the honor, and the polygamous Brahman 
becomes the husband of many wives. Cases are 
mentioned of Kulins having one hundred and twenty 
wives. The Kulin does not necessarily take these to 
his home, but may visit among them in the homes of 
their parents. The Kulin often receives large pres- 
ents in the homes of his wives. 

IY. Among every people who have developed 
any considerable civilization, there comes a period 
when the speculative intellect seeks a solution 
of the momentous question of the origin and des- 
tiny of life and being. That period came to the 
Hindus several centuries before the Christian era. 
Systems of philosophy, in the widest sense of the 
term, as an explanation of the totality of all things 
in their origin, nature, and destiny, was thus early 
attempted in India. Learned students of the litera- 
ture find it exceedingly difficult to fix the date of the 
early philosophical books of the Hindus. The witty 
Greek writer, Lucian, two thousand years ago, wrote 
of the gymnosophists, or naked philosophers of In- 
dia ; but it is certain that they discussed the problem 
of the universe centuries before he wrote. We will 
seek to present this theological philosophy, although, 



154 Doomed Keligions. 

in its highest speculations and deductions, it is diffi- 
cult to understand. There are six recognized sys- 
tems of philosophy among the Hindus, called the 
Shad Darshanas, or six demonstrations or instrument 
of truth. The word darshana is from a Sanskrit root, 
meaning to see, and this name has been given to the 
system, either because it is claimed that it lets one see 
the origin, nature, and destiny of the universe, or be- 
cause it discovers the path of salvation, or freedom 
from transmigration. It may be interesting to the 
reader to glance over a brief scheme of these systems 
as worked out from various sources by the writer. 

Scheme op the Six Darshanas. 
Name of System. 

1. Nydyd Author, Gautama. There are five elements cor- 
responding to the five senses. Hence this is 
a sensational system. It is logical — that is, the 
philosophy of reason. Is dualistic. 

2. Vaiseshikd. . . Author, Kandd. Supplementary to the Nyaya. 
Matter is eternal in the shape of atoms. 

3. Sankya Author, Kdpila. There are but two existences, 

(categories,) souls and qualities. There are 
three eternal qualities — pleasing, displeasing, 
and indifferent. System, emotional and athe- 
istic. 

4. Yogya Author, Patanjali. System classed with the 

Sankya, but is theistic. The one is release 
from Nature, the other is absorption in Deity. 

5. Vedanta Author, Vyas. But two existences, (catego- 
ries,) the true and the false, or illusory. Brahm 
alone is real, all else is illusion. This system 
is idealism and monism. 

6. Mimdnsd. . . . Author, Jaima?ii y is related to the Vedanta ; 
specialty, sound is eternal. 






s 5 



a> o 



Bkahmanism. 155 

As intimated, the date of these systems is not cer- 
tainly known, nor is it absolutely clear that their 
chronological order is that of this scheme. Certain 
internal indications show that they may have been 
developed in this order. One seems to have grown 
out of and supplemented the other. The first four are 
said by some Hindu teachers to be somewhat heret- 
ical. The last two seem to have been written to cor- 
rect this. Each school has its followers, and al- 
though differing materially, some teachers attempt 
the feat of reconciling them. In certain funda- 
mental points they do agree. 

1. All the systems claim to rest on the Yedas, 
which are held to be infallible. The Yedas thus 
stand to these philosophers as the Bible does to 
schools of Christian theology. 

2. All the systems exclude the idea of creation 
from nothing. They rest on the statement, ex nihilo 
nihil Jit — out of nothing nothing comes. The sys- 
tems hold that nonentity cannot become an entity, 
and vice versa. Hence the world is eternal in some 
form. Its substratum is either atoms and souls, ac- 
cording to some systems, or the substrate is only 
Brahm or Deity, according to others. The develop- 
ment of the world phenomenon takes place in a pe- 
culiar way, as will appear farther on. 

3. Soul is eternal in the dualistic systems, separate 
from Deity ; in the monotheistic systems, a part of 



156 Doomed Religions. 

Deity. In either case it is subject to transmigration. 
If it enters man's body, then it is a man ; if it enters 
the body of a brute, then it appears as brute. 

4. All the systems propose, as the summum 
bonum, or highest good, deliverance from transmi- 
gration, and its consequence, pain. The path to this 
is the subject of each system. These ancient sages, 
"naked philosophers," as Lucian called them, sat 
garmentless in the forests, or in some hermitage hut, 
as they may be found to-day, and pondered the fact 
of pain and misery. Their philosophies are expe- 
dients for deliverance from these. It was but an- 
other form of the problem of sin and salvation. 

5. In all the systems ignorance is the cause of 
bondage to pain and misery. The nature or cause of 
this ignorance varies somewhat according to the sys- 
tem. It may consist in the soul not discriminating 
between itself and mind, or nature ; or it may arise, 
according to the pantheistic systems, from illusionary 
imaginings in the universal all-soul. Mind, it must 
be noted by one theory, is supposed to be separate 
from, and is the perceiving instrument of, the soul. 
Soul, a pure, intelligent, but passionless, emotionless 
something, identifies itself with the mere instrument 
of its perceptions, or with nature. It is as if the 
mirror should identify itself with the object reflected 
in it, or the prism assume to itself the colors reflected 
by it. 



Brahmanism. 157 

6. Knowledge, or right apprehension, is then, of 
course, the means of deliverance. It is the object of 
all the systems to impart this knowledge. The soul 
becomes free by entering into a complete recognition 
of the fact that its bonds of pain and misery are only 
phenomenal and illusory. They are annihilated by 
ignoring them. In the case of Yedanta, or panthe- 
istic system, the highest truth is reached in the for- 
mula, "Neither do I exist, nor any thing cognized 
by me." The climax is obtained in the utter abdica- 
tion of consciousness. The knowledge that brings 
salvation is the road to complete self-abnegation and 
self-oblivion. 

7. It will be seen, then, that the salvation aimed at 
in those systems is not positive happiness, but either 
absolute quiescence, or the negation of all conscious- 
ness. According to the dualistic systems, it is salva- 
tion for the soul to get disentangled from the phe- 
nomenal coils of nature and sink into the passionless 
rest of pure spirit ; or, in the case of the Yedanta, to 
escape from the illusions of life's weird dream, and 
find one's self merged in the depths of the infinite 
Being. 

Such is an outline of the main points of coinci- 
dence in the systems of Hindu philosophy. They 
differ chiefly on the question of whether the universe 
has a dual character or may be ultimately reduced to 
unity. Some claim that there is soul and a real 



158 Doomed Religions. 

something not soul, to which it is related ; others 
claim that at the base of all a universal soul 
(Brahm) exists, in which all appearances are mere 
phenomena. Explanations differ as to how the expe- 
riences and phenomena of the world takes place. 

The systems are taught in the form of brief apho- 
risms, often very obscure. Hence the need of com- 
mentaries and works explanatory of their meaning. 

Professor Banerjea, of Calcutta, a converted Brah- 
man, and a profound student of these philosophies, 
thinks the aphorisms were esoteric and intentionally 
obscure, to veil their meaning from the common 
people. 

The most remarkable of these systems, and appar- 
ently the latest in order of development, is the Ve- 
danta, which reduces the universe to a mere multi- 
form manifestation of a Supreme Spirit. Pantheism 
has a peculiar fascination for the Hindu mind. 
Many cling to this when compelled to abandon the 
grosser forms of their ancient faith. A brief exposi- 
tion of this system will serve at once to show what it 
is, and to illustrate the mode of reasoning that pro- 
duced it. 

Vedcmtism, or Hindu pantheism, is that system of 
thought in which an attempt is made to resolve the 
complex manifestations of the universe into unity. 
This is just what Spinoza attempted in his "unity 
of substance," in the universe, perhaps two thousand 



Beahmanism. 1&\> 

years later, and is what, afterward, Hegel sought to 
. do in his doctrine of " absolute identity." Spinoza 
taught that all beings and phenomena are evolved 
from some ultimate eternal unity of substance or ex- 
istence. Hegel taught that there is an identity run- 
ning through all things, hence subject and object, 
the ideal and the real, the finite and the infinite, the 
temporal and the eternal, are at base the same, and 
the manifestations of the universe are but a " self- 
evolution, whereby the absolute enters into antithe- 
sis and returns to itself again." These and others 
who think with them do but hold what had been 
taught by the naked philosophers of India ages 
before. 

The simplest form of the Vedantist's creed con- 
tains only three Sanskrit words, which may be trans- 
lated, "One only essence without a second." An- 
other statement is, "All this universe is, indeed, 
Brahma; from him does it proceed, into him it is 
dissolved." A converted Brahman, Nilkanth Shastri 
Gore, a man profoundly learned in Hindu philoso- 
phy, states that this formula, as expounded and ex- 
plained by the advocates of the Yedanta system, may 
be thus stated : " Brahma alone — a spirit ; essentially 
existent, intelligence, and joy ; void of all qualities 
and of all acts, in whom there is no consciousness 
such as is denoted by < I, 5 ' thou,' and ' it ; ' who ap- 
prehends no person or thing, nor is apprehended of 



l^adO Doomed Religions. 

any, who is neither parviscient nor omniscient; 
neither parvipotent nor omnipotent; who has neither 
beginning nor end ; immutable and indefectible — is 
the true entity. All besides himself, the entire uni- 
verse, is false, that is to say, is nothing whatsoever. 
Neither has it ever existed, nor does it now exist, 
nor will it exist at any time future. And the soul 
is one with Brahma. Such is the doctrine of the 
Yedanta regarding the true state of existence ; and 
it is denominated non-dualistic as rejecting the notion 
of any second entity." 

According to Yedantism, and almost as Hegel 
taught, the universe is a succession of developments. 
It is an evolution, as Spencer would say, from the 
homogeneous (pure unity) to the heterogeneous, 
(complexity.) 

It is a mental phenomenon, worthy of study, how 
these Indian philosophers evolved a universe full of 
multiform life and being, from a simple spirit-es- 
sence (Brahma) void of all qualities, of all acts, and 
of all consciousness. This they did long before 
Spinoza and Hegel. The Yedantist begins this feat 
with the doctrine, " That the one sole self-existing 
Supreme-Self, the one eternal germ of all things, 
delights in infinite expansion, in infinite manifesta- 
tion of itself, in infinite creation, dissolution, and 
recreation, through infinite varieties and diversities 
of operation." The name Brahma given to this 



Brahmanism. 161 

germinal essence is from a root wliich means growth 
and expansion. 

The Yedantin struggles as best he can through the 
contradictions and inconsistencies of his system. The 
eternal spirit essence, without attribute or conscious- 
ness or feeling, must become conscious, or delight 
"in infinite expansion," etc. The Yedantins deny 
all attributes or qualities in the sole essence, because 
quality would introduce distinctions according to 
their reasoning, and hence dualism. Besides, quality 
implies some kind of limitation, but the sole essence 
is conditioned. In the same way this essence has no 
consciousness or apprehension, for these imply a sub- 
ject and object which would be dualism again, and 
yet they describe Brahma, or the sole eternal infinite 
essence, as " existence, intelligence, and joy." But 
this is explained as sheer or abstract existence, intel- 
ligence, and joy, as one might say of the sweetness of 
sugar, which, dissolving, leaves no deposit, that it is 
sweetness pure and simple, and not the quality of 
any thing. The intelligence of Brahma must be the 
highest form of thought or meditation according to 
the Vedanta, in which there is thought without dis- 
tinction of subject and object. This is being, with- 
out cognition. In the same way the "joy" must be 
unconditioned, something existing solely in and of 
itself. There must be no distinction between the 

enjoyer and something enjoyed, for this would 
11 



162 Doomed Keligions. 

imply dualism again. The Yedantin might say 
that such was the infinite spirit of the Christian's 
theology, in the depths of eternity before creation 
began. 

To proceed, the universe as it appears is an evolu- 
tion from Brahma. According to the Yedantin, 
Brahma is not only the efficient cause, that is, the 
active producer, of the universe, but he is also the 
material cause of the universe, that is, he is the sub- 
strate or substance, whatever it may be, from which 
all apparently material things are made. Various 
figures are used to illustrate this statement. Nothing 
can come from nothing, hence the jmiversal soul 
must draw all things from himself. "What the clay 
is to the jar, what gold is to the bracelet, what the 
spider is to the web drawn from it, such is Brahma 
to the world. Sankera, one of the chief Hindu com- 
mentators on the Yedanta system, writes : " It may 
be objected that a carpenter can make a house, as he 
is possessed of materials, but how can the soul, being 
without materials, create the worlds ? But there is 
nothing objectionable in this. The world can exist 
in the material cause, that is, in that formless unde- 
veloped subject which is called soul, just as the sub- 
sequently developed form exists in water. There is 
nothing, therefore, contradictory in supposing that 
the Omniscient, who is himself the material cause of 
names and forms, creates the world." 



Brahmanism. 163 

It may be thought that here the Vedantist must 
meet an overthrow of his monism, or pure unity ; for 
whatever may have been in the beginning, we now 
encounter a multiplicity of separate forms and beings 
that have been brought into existence by Brahma, 
and thus we have dualism. But the Hindu pantheist 
is equal to the emergency. He claims that the world 
is only phenomenal. The whole phantasmagoria 
presented to our senses is a vast illusion. " Brahma 
alone exists, all else is false," is a fundamental dogma. 
The converted Brahman referred to expounds this 
statement : " In the estimation of the Vedantins, 
Brahma is universally diffused ; and over portions of 
him, the world, a thing of falsity, is actually pro- 
duced ; Brahma is its substrate, and its illusory mate- 
rial cause ; and ignorance is its material cause. The 
world thus, is false, and, therefore, so are its name 
and form. Its existence, in one way, is false, and in 
another way, is true ; the former, when it is viewed 
as the world ; the latter, when it is viewed as Brahma. 
Hence the Yedantins maintain that the world is false ; 
and, at the same time, that it is identical with Brahma, 
inasmuch as it is Brahma himself, that, owing to 
ignorance, appears as the world." Five words com- 
prehend that the universe is existence, intelligence, 
joy, name, and form. The first three are real, and 
belong to Brahma ; the other two are mere illusions, 
and constitute the world of phenomena. 



164 Doomed Keligiosts. 

In discussing this subject the Yedantin speaks of 
three kinds of existence, which are respectively called 
" real existence/' " practical existence," and " apparent 
existence." Real existence, it is said, can be affirmed 
only of Brahma, the supreme soul. Besides him noth- 
ing else is reality. The second kind of existence, 
called " practical," refers to the transactions and sup- 
posed realities of ordinary practical life. None of 
these things really exist ; all is mere illusion. The 
third kind of existence, the " apparent," differs from 
the second, more in degree than in kind. By it is 
meant that illusory kind of existence in which, by 
optical or some other kind of illusion, we mistake 
one thing for another; for instance, a rope ior a 
snake. Things seen in dreams or in mental halluci- 
nation are classed here. The second kind of exist- 
ence is held to be no more real than these, but we 
have " practical " dealings with them. Practical ex- 
istence is deemed real through ignorance, to which, 
in the third kind of existence, certain other mistakes 
and illusions are added. The special difference be- 
tween these two kinds of existence seems to be that 
the practical has a certain kind of false reality which 
does not exist in apparent existence, with which we 
can have no practical dealing; for example, no one 
can bathe in a stream seen in a dream ; and yet the 
Vedantin insists that the deception in practical exist- 
ence is greater than in apparent existence, because 



Brahmanism. 165 

the former seem more persistently real to us, while 
not being in the least more so. 

We are prepared now to comprehend more fully 
what these Indian pantheists mean by the statement, 
"Brahma alone is real, all else is false." 

Naturally the question will come just here, How 
did this phenomenal illusory world, which, according 
to this system of pantheism, has no real existence, 
come into this apparent existence ? In the answer to 
this question an explanation of some obscure phrases 
in quotations given will come in. 

Preceding the evolution of the universe, according 
to the Yedantin, the incomplex soul-entity, Brahma, 
willed to become multiple in the names and forms 
and intelligences of the universe. And yet some 
explain the system to mean that the whole creation 
arose as an involuntary development. The process 
of creation, as generally explained, was effected and 
is maintained by a power of illusion or ignorance 
that can be exercised by Brahma, who, by a kind of 
self-imposed ignorance, for his own amusement, pro- 
jects the phantasmagoria of the universe. It is as if 
some powerful writer of fiction sat enjoying the 
phantasm of his own imagination. This ignorance 
or illusion, by which the phenomenal world is formed, 
has in it two powers, called respectively the power of 
envelopment or concealment, and the power of pro- 
jection. The first of these powers beclouds and 



166 Doomed Religions. 

obscures the soul and veils the understanding so that 
the reality of things is lost. 

We must lay aside our Christian ideas of the 
Divine Spirit when we seek to understand what the 
Hindu pantheists say about this self-imposed igno- 
rance of Brahma. And yet, have not even Christian 
writers suggested a kind of abdication of knowledge 
by Deity in some matters. So Clarke on the fall. 
Chevalier Ramsey held the opinion that God does 
not choose to know contingent events. 

Of the projecting power of ignorance the Yedan- 
tins say, that just as ignorance produces the illusion 
of a snake, and raises up its form on a rope, so this 
ignorance exercised by Brahma projects or raises up 
the phenomenal universe on the soul enveloped by 
it. Individual souls are thrown off from the su- 
preme soul, and become the subjects of this illusion. 
Referring again to our converted Brahman, he says 
on this point : 

" "With reference to the soul, the Yedantins hold 
that, though it is Brahma, yet being subject to illu- 
sion or ignorance, it has forgotten its true nature, 
and looking upon the internal organ and the body as 
real, and identifying itself with them, considers itself 
to be man or the like. And although all things in 
vicissitudinous life are false from ignorance, soul 
thinks them true, and calls some of them mine, and 
the rest others, and imagines that some things make 



Brahmanism. 167 

it happy, and that others render it miserable. It 
being thus, there arises in the soul desire and aver- 
sion, in consequence of which it engages in good 
works and in bad. Afterward, to receive the re- 
quital of those works, it has to pass to Elysium, or to 
Hell, and to take birth repeatedly. All these expe- 
riences and mutations are, to be sure, false ; but, 
nevertheless, they seem to it as true, and hence is all 
its wretchedness." 

Thus a universe of phenomena and experiences 
has come into existence. It is a curious fact that, 
according to Yedanta philosophy, the evolution of 
the material or physical universe is in something of 
the same order indicated by the nebular hypothesis, 
as may be seen from the following quotation from 
the Vedantasar, a treatise on the pantheistic phi- 
losophy by one of the most successful native ex- 
pounders : 

" From intelligence associated with ignorance, at- 
tended by its projective power, in which the quality 
of insensibility abounds, proceeds ether; from ether, 
air ; from air, heat ; from heat, water ; and from wa- 
ter, earth. As the Veda says, ' From this, from this 
same self, was the ether produced.' The prevalence 
of insensibility in the cause of these elements is in- 
ferred from observing the excess of inanimateness 
which is in them. Then in these elements — ether 
and the rest — arise the qualities — pleasure, pain, and 



168 Doomed Keligions. 

insensibility — in the proportion in which they ex- 
ist in the cause. These are what are termed the 
subtile elements, the rudimentary elements. From 
them spring the subtile bodies and the gross ele- 
ments." 

Vedantins hold that the individual soul, while sep- 
arated from the supreme soul, is encased in a succes- 
sion of sheaths or bodies inclosed one within the 
other. The first may be called the intellectual sheath, 
the next is the mental sheath, and the next is the 
vital sheath. These three constitute the subtile body 
which attends the pure spirit, or fragment of Brah- 
ma, in its rounds of transmigration. Over this sub- 
tile body is a fourth, the gross frame, composed of 
the coarse elements assimilated from food, and which 
is animated from birth to death. There is some- 
thing here faintly resembling the threefold organiza- 
tion advocated by some Christian writers of body, 
soul, and spirit. Some German philosophers are ad- 
vocating a subtile soul-body inclosed in the gross body 
of flesh and blood. 

According to the Vedantin, salvation is deliver- 
ance from these successive spirit encasements, so that 
the liberated spark may mingle again with the divine 
universal flame. This is salvation, and how to un- 
ravel these subtile coils and arouse from the dream 
of ignorance is the great problem of life. Deliver- 
ance is achieved by certain sacrifices, by religious 



Brahmanism. 169 

exercises, by asceticism, by pious meditation leading 
to a perfect knowledge of the nature of things, and 
of the sole divine reality. 

We have passed in review the remarkable system 
of religion and philosophy called Brahmanism. If 
the reader will gather up in one glance what has 
been said in section III of this discussion, he will 
have before him an outline of the system. For thou- 
sands of years it has fashioned the thought and feel- 
ings, and shaped the destiny of countless millions of 
human souls. We pass to a final phase of the sub- 
ject. 

Y. The Present Condition and Prospects of 
Brahmanism. 

Brahmanism had grown to be a burden insupport- 
able by human nature. Overgrown and intolerable 
systems invariably provoke a revolt in course of time. 
In more recent centuries such revolts, in the form of 
attempted reformations, became numerous among the 
Hindus. The exorbitant claims of the Brahmans, 
the pretensions of caste, the insufferable burden of 
minute religious exactions, aroused the opposition of 
thoughtful men. Several remarkable characters, 
some of them of low caste, appeared in the four- 
teenth and fifteenth centuries. Such men were 
Bamanand, Kabir, Dadu, Nanak, and Chaitanya. 
These sought in some measure to unite different 



170 Doomed Religions. 

castes, and introduce a different system of faith and 
worship. Some of these men, as Kabir, ridiculed the 
current teachings of the Brahmans, and attacked idol- 
atrous worship with great earnestness. All this in- 
dicates that an age of inevitable decadence in Brah- 
manism had been reached. 

In this age, commerce and adventure began to 
carry European influence into India. By the mid- 
dle of the eighteenth century British power was 
fully established. Western civilization and the Gos- 
pel entered India at the same time. The seeds of a 
new moral and intellectual life were slowly but 
surely sown. A mightier power of reform had be- 
gun to grapple with Brahmanism. The first marked 
movement not directly connected with evangelism, 
in what may be called the European period of Indian 
history, began with Ram Mohan Roy, a remarkable 
man, and the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, the most 
radical reformation ever attempted in the Brahman- 
ical system. 

Ram Mohan Roy was born in the village of Rad^ 
hanagar, in Bengal, in 1774. He descended from a 
high caste Brahman family. At an early age he re- 
vealed remarkable intelligence, and a strong moral 
bent of mind. He possessed in an eminent degree 
the linguistic faculty, and made great progress in 
Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic when still a boy, to 
which, in addition to some other Asiatic languages, 



Brahmanism. 171 

he afterward added a knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, 
and English. When sixteen years of age he wrote 
an article attacking the idolatry of his people, and 
denouncing the errors of Brahmanism. This, with 
other bold strictures on the religion of the times, led 
to his alienation from his family. He traveled ex- 
tensively in India, and passed over the Himalayas 
into Thibet and other countries, sad at the religious 
condition of his people, but gathering strength and 
general qualification for his career of reform. He- 
turning home, he renewed his opposition to the pre- 
vailing religion. The great object of his life became 
the establishment of a new sect, monotheistic in 
creed, and with a better moral life than the Brah- 
manism of his time produced. His method in as- 
sailing the errors and abuses of the system was by 
private conversations with his relatives and friends, 
by public lectures and controversies, by the press, 
and by education. He attempted to form an eclectic 
system, not hesitating to select from the Moslem and 
from the Christian any thing that commended itself 
to him. He drew largely on the New Testament, 
making a collection called the " Precepts of Jesus." 
He entered into sharp controversies with the mission- 
aries, then at work in Bengal, claiming that they did 
not rightly interpret the doctrines of the New Testa- 
ment ; and it is a matter of history that a missionary, 
by the name of William Adam, became unitarian in 



172 Doomed Religions. 

belief, earning for himself among his brother mis- 
sionaries the title of the " second fallen Adam." 

The following was the creed of Ram Mohan Roy : 
" The omnipotent God, who is the only proper object 
of religious veneration, is one and undivided in per- 
son ; that, in reliance on numerous promises found 
in the sacred writings, we ought to entertain every 
hope of enjoying the blessing of pardon from the 
merciful Father, through repentance, which is de- 
clared the only means of procuring pardon for our 
failures ; and that he leads such as worship him in 
spirit to righteous conduct, and ultimately to salva- 
tion through his guiding influence, which is called 
the Holy Spirit, given as the consequence of their 
sincere prayers." 

With an instinct that does not always mark the 
reformer, Ram Mohan Roy sought to give that ref- 
ormation he was attempting an organized and per- 
manent form. As early as 1815 he established a 
"Friendly Society." The "Brahmo Samaj"* was 
established by him in 1828. In 1830 Ram Mohan 
Roy was sent by the Moslem emperor of Delhi as his 
embassador to England, receiving from him, at the 
same time, the title of rajah, or king. He never re- 
turned, but died in England in 1833, after a short but 
enthusiastic career. 

*Samaj means society or assembly ; and in Brahmo the great de- 
ist ic idea in Brahmanism is retained. 



Brahmanism. 173 

For a time it seemed as if the death of the 
reformer would be the death of his reformation. 
He had, however, taken the precaution, before go- 
ing to England, to execute a trustee deed binding 
his colleagues to use certain "lands, tenements, 
hereditaments, and premises " for the purposes of 
the society which he had founded. He thus pro- 
vided for perpetuating the religious worship he had 
established. 

In time a second champion of the movement, 
Debendronath Tagore, also an able man, came to the 
front. He revived the waning cause, organized it 
still more effectively, and purged the society from 
members who compromised it by conforming to the 
idolatrous customs of the country. For this purpose 
he introduced a covenant, binding members to be 
more strict observers of the reformed belief. He 
started periodicals and founded Samajes in various 
parts of the country. 

In 1850 the Brahmos rejected the infallibility of 
the Yedas. Up to this time they had maintained a 
kind of Yedic unitarianism, but the manifest errors 
and contradictions of the Yedas had to be abandoned. 
They now took up the position of natural theism, 
laying large stress on intuition. Only four articles 
of belief were required of those who wished to join 
the reformation : 

" 1. From eternity there is but one God ; nothing 



174 Doomed Religions. 

else was co-existent with him. He has created what- 
ever exists. 

" 2. He is thus eternal, and is intelligence itself, 
infinite, all-good, distinct from all else, without parts, 
one without a second, all pervading, governing and 
supporting all things, omniscient, omnipotent, perfect, 
immutable, without a likeness. 

" 3. His worship alone insures all present and fut- 
ure bliss. 

" 4. Love of him and doing the works he loves is 
his worship." 

This brief creed was for a time all that the Brah- 
mos formulated. 

In 1859 a taciturn but energetic young man by 
the name of Keshub Chunder Sen joined the Samaj. 
He was destined to impress himself profoundly on his 
countrymen, and to insist on more radical reforms 
than had yet been attempted. Secular education by the 
British Government, and by the missions, the preach- 
ing of the Gospel, and the dissemination of Chris- 
tian literature, were all molding powerfully native 
thought, and paving the way to greater concessions 
to the truth. Keshub Chunder Sen was born in 
Calcutta in 1832. He received an English education 
and became a close student of the Bible. At an early 
age he was inclined to a religious life and became 
accustomed to prayer. He became acquainted with 
the genial Debendronath Tagore, and was initiated 



Bkahmanism. 175 

into the Bralimo Samaj, where he soon outstripped 
his master in enthusiasm and zeal for reform. His 
family were shocked at the way he set the orthodox 
religion of his forefathers at defiance. His impa- 
tience of what he deemed improper conventionalities 
and ancient religious and social customs, tolerated in 
the Samaj, soon produced a rupture and led to the for- 
mation of a new and more advanced society. Keshub 
Chunder objected to those w T ho conducted worship 
among the Brahmos, wearing the sacred thread, a 
small cord worn around the body under the clothing 
over the right shoulder and under the left arm. This 
cord is a mark of caste. It should be noted that 
the Brahmos had only theoretically disavowed caste. 
This innovation of the new leader was more than the 
older members of the Samaj were then willing to ac- 
cept. They said, " Leave time to gradually work these 
changes." This was in 1862, and the following year 
Keshub Chunder made a still more radical mt)ve, by 
solemnizing a marriage between persons of different 
castes. For this act Debendronath Tagore removed 
Keshub Chunder from his position as a trustee and 
secretary of the Samaj. He thus became separated 
and drew away with him a party of sympathizers. 
In 1866 they formed a new society, called the 
" Brahmo Samaj of India," in distinction from the 
old Samaj, which was then called the " Adi Brahmo 
Samaj," or original Samaj. These two parties were 



176 Doomed Keligions. 

now distinguished as " progressives " and " conserva- 
tives." The conservative party moves on without 
much change, impressing itself to some extent on the 
belief of the people. 

We may notice at a little more length the pro- 
gressives as holding the latest development of relig- 
ious thought among the educated natives of India. 
Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, the leader of the ad- 
vanced party, is a man of commanding presence, 
strong convictions, and powerful will. He is admira- 
bly qualified to be a leader. He received a most en- 
thusiastic reception on a visit made to England. On 
his return his influence among his countrymen was 
greatly enhanced, and he has been most active in 
spreading his views by lectures and through period- 
icals, printed sermons, pamphlets, etc. The personal 
following of this remarkable man encountered a de- 
cided check in 1878, when he had his daughter, not 
quite fourteen years of age, married to a young rajah, 
in Bengal, who was only fifteen years of age, idola- 
trous ceremonies also being permitted at the marriage. 
The result was another schism, so that now there are 
three sections of this reform movement. Keshub 
Chunder Sen's party is the most active, and keeps it- 
self most prominent before the public, due largely to 
the marked personality of the leader. It may be inter- 
esting to the reader to see just what these reformed 
Hindus now believe. They have embodied their faith 



Brahmanism. 177 

in thirty-nine statements, the number, perhaps not 
by design, being that of the Church of England creed. 

The Brahmo's Creed.* 

" 1. I believe that God is, that he is a Spirit, and 
that he is One without a second. 

" 2. I believe God is a personal and living God, 
with the infinite attributes of wisdom, love, holiness, 
power, glory, and peace. 

" 3. I believe God is present in us and with us. 
He directs all the functions of our body and mind 
according to fixed laws. He watches over all our 
thoughts and actions. His spirit surrounds us, and 
fills us, and is the cause and center of all our forces. 

" 4. I similarly believe God is present in all the 
aspects and laws of nature, and nothing that takes 
place, takes place without his will and power. 

" 5. I believe that as God's general providence su- 
perintends over the affairs of all mankind and the world 
at large, so his special providence presides over the cir- 
cumstances and destinies of individual men, and leads 
them through mysterious ways from evil to good. 

" 6. I believe in the double nature of man, namely, 
in his body and in his spirit. His body is perishable, 
but his soul is immortal. 

" 7. 1 believe the immortality of the soul means 

eternal progress in goodness and godliness. 

* Taken from the " Brahmo Quarterly." 
12 



178 Doomed Religions. 

" 8. I believe, without faith in a future state of ex- 
istence, religious life to be impossible. 

" 9. I believe every man to be responsible for his 
deeds and thoughts. 

" 10. I believe that inward as well as outward sin 
brings its own punishment, both in this life, and in 
the life to come. The punishment of sin is the de- 
generacy and anguish of mind, and sometimes bodily 
afflictions, also, which produce the anguish of mind. 

"11. I similarly believe that righteousness brings 
its reward of eternal peace, both here and hereafter. 

12. Sin is the willful violation of God's laws, both 
material, moral, and spiritual. 

" 13. Righteousness is conscious and willing obe- 
dience rendered unto God in the trials, occupations, 
and temptations of life. 

" 14. I do neither believe in a material heaven, nor 
in a material hell ; but I believe heaven and hell to 
be the states and relations of a man's being, accord- 
ing to the merits of his life, both here and hereafter. 

"15. I believe in the spiritual relationship and 
future union of souls in heaven. 

" 16. I believe in the existence and divine authority 
of conscience, which lays down for us the dictates and 
prohibitions of God. 

" 17. I believe that the foundation of all religion is 
laid on the spiritual instincts of man which are im- 
bedded in the nature of the soul. 



Brahmanism. 179 

"18. I believe faith and prayer to be the organs 
and ways through which the perception of spiritual 
realities is at all possible. 

" 19. I believe in the mission of prophets and great 
religious teachers, through the luster and power of 
whose teachings and examples we learn about salva- 
tion and spiritual life. 

" 20. I believe Jesus Christ to be the chief of all 
prophets and teachers. 

" 21. I believe in the efficacy of studying the 
scriptures of all nations, and I believe in the spe- 
cial efficacy of studying the Bible and the Hindu 
scriptures. 

" 22. I believe that, according to the needs and 
tendencies of mankind, at different times, and in 
different countries, the providence of God introduces 
and carries out particular dispensations or phases of 
religion, with the object of delivering nations and 
individuals from sin and misery, and of enlightening 
them with truth, holiness, and peace. 

" 23. I believe that the institution of the Brahmo 
Samaj, and its progressive developments in principle, 
as well as in life and events, constitute such a dis- 
pensation. 

" 24. I believe Theism to be the dispensation of 
the age. It will include all previous dispensations. 
It will harmonize with every form of scientific and 
philosophical truth. The forms and the modes of the 



180 Doomed Eeligions. 

development of Theism will differ in different coun- 
tries and communities ; but its spirit will be the same 
every- where. And I fully believe that Theism will 
be the religion of the future. 

" 25. I believe in the inspiration and truth-teaching 
power of some of the leaders of the Brahmo Samaj, 
and eminently of Keshub Chunder Sen. Some of 
the most cherished and glorious truths respecting 
the nature of God and man, I have learned from 
him, and from them. But I do not believe that 
any Brahmo leader or teacher is, or has been, infal- 
libly inspired, or that any one of them has, at all 
times, and in equal measure, commanded the gift of 
inspiration. 

" 26. I believe that men have been inspired and 
commanded by God to do great things in the past, 
and men can be also inspired at the present time as 
well as in the future, 

" 27. I believe the position and mission of women 
in the theistic Church to be very high, and unless and 
until men have learned thoroughly to purify their 
hearts in regard to women, and to honor them, 
Theism will not take root in this land. 

" 28. I believe in the solemn duty of the com- 
munion of the spirit of man with the Spirit of God, 
the standing face to face to behold the perfections 
of God. This is worship. 

"29. I believe in the holy duty of communion 



Brahmanism. 181 

with the spirits of holy men, both living and departed, n, 
This is the brotherhood of man. 

" 30. I believe in the duty and utmost efficacy of 
prayer for all spiritual benefits. 

" 31. I believe in the great duty of public and 
conjoint worship. 

" 32. I believe that the brotherhood of men en- 
joins the great duty of doing service to each other, 
both material, moral, and spiritual. 

" 33. I believe religion includes every manner of 
good work, and every description of social reform. 
But I do not believe in any work, or any reform, the 
spirit of which is not strictly and faithfully subordi- 
nated to religion. 

" 34. I believe in the utmost sanctity of domestic - 
life. I believe the fidelity of attachment and conduct 
between husband and wife to be one of the holiest 
sacraments of human life. I believe every house- 
hold duty should be performed in the spirit of relig- 
ion. Because I believe, without religion, no house- 
hold can be happy or pure. 

" 35. I believe it is my duty to honor the professors — 
of all religions, and only to beware of the hypocrite 
and evil-doer. 

"36. I believe in the sacred and solemn duty of 
propagating my own faith, and converting men to 
the religion of the Brahmo Samaj. 

" 37. I believe in the sacred duty of preserving 



182 Doomed Religions. 

and cherishing and cleansing this material body with 
which God has clothed man's soul so long as life re- 
mains. But I also believe in suffering, hardship, and 
discipline, which subdue and control the carnal in- 
stincts of human nature. 

u 38. I believe in the sacred duty of cultivating and 
encouraging the independence of thought, will, and 
convictions. Every thing that tends to enslave man's 
nature is an evil. I also believe in the great duty of 
subordinating individual opinions, habits, and incli- 
nations to the general welfare of the community. 

"39. I believe in the ultimate triumph of good 
over every form of evil, of truth over every form of 
falsehood, and of the true faith over every form of 
unbelief. So help me God ! " 

On joining the Samaj, Brahmos are expected to 
subscribe to a covenant binding them to the prac- 
tices and aims of the society. The renunciation of 
idolatry and polytheism, the abolition of caste and 
polygamy, the maintenance of purity in morals, are 
points insisted on. 

The service of their religious assemblies is mod- 
eled after the religious worship of Christians. There 
is the sermon, with prayer, and singing, accompa- 
nied often by instrumental music. They also have a 
printed ritual. Their phraseology is taken largely 
from Christian usage, consequent, perhaps, chiefly on 
their adopting the English language in many of their 



Brahmanism. 183 

publications and in some of their assemblies. They 
call their society a "Church." The present move- 
ment is the " New Dispensation." The leaders are 
called " apostles," and the Samaj has " ministers," 
and is sending out " missionaries " into different 
parts of India. They speak, of an "atonement," 
of "redemption," of "repentance, faith, conversion," 
of the " kingdom of heaven," etc. In Christianity, 
as a system, they find much that commands recog- 
nition, and their avowed opinions of it are an in- 
teresting study to the missionaries. In an article on 
the " Progress of Ideas," in the " Brahmo Quarterly," 
the editor says, " We might consider India recalling 
with pride the spirit of yoga* and contemplation, 
the deep faith and devotion of its ancestors, and at 
the same time imbibing the truth as it is in Christ." 
In another number of the " Quarterly " the editor 
writes of the Brahmo movement : " It must take its 
contemplative side from Hinduism, and practical 
morality from Christianity." The Brahmos hold 
that they interpret the New Testament more cor- 
rectly than Christians do. I quote from the same 
periodical : 

"But what is our attitude toward Christianity? 
Already has it been said that we partly trace our 
origin from Christian sources. Here I must observe 
that we make great distinction between Christianity 

* Austerity, asceticism. 



184 Doomed Religions. 

and Christ. To us, Christianity is like a wilderness 
of waters, on which are cast adrift the wrecks of 
numberless schools and churches, the relics of past 
ages and the conflicts of the present. Christianity 
carries into the mind strange associations of truth and 
error, *of good and evil ; it is difficult, nay, almost 
hopeless, to distinguish between what is true Chris- 
tianity and what is not, amid this wide confusion of 
creeds and churches. From the painful spectacle, 
therefore, which they present, with unspeakable re- 
lief does the Dispensation of the Brahmo Samaj turn 
to the sweet and supreme figure of Him, the star of 
Bethlehem, the light of Nazareth, the holy and glori- 
ous Son of Man. To the Brahmo Samaj it is not in 
vain that Christ lived and died. It is unspeakable 
gain, it is endless strength. True, indeed, it is, we 
belong not to the fold of those who are called Chris- 
tians, but we do claim to belong to that ' other fold 
of sheep' to whom Jesus lovingly alluded while 
speaking of his universal relations to the future of 
man. Christians may disown us, churches may dis- 
card us, and even our own countrymen may fnake a by- 
word of our name, but the New Dispensation of the 
Brahmo Samaj shall not be ashamed of the name of 
Christ. The Brahmo Samaj has absorbed him, assim- 
ilated him, become one flesh and blood with him, and, 
like a wild olive branch, has been engrafted on 
the natural, ever-growing olive-tree of Christ's life, 



Brahmanism. 185 

death, and immortality in heaven. Such is our atti- 
tude toward Jesus." 

The position of the advanced wing of the Brahmo 
Samaj seems now to be, that the " New Dispensation," 
as they call it, is Christianity rehabilitated, its old 
garments thrown away, and the system purged of the 
needless formularies and numerous errors accumu- 
lated through the centuries. The reformers have 
seized the central doctrines of Christianity and inter- 
preted them in a light that suits their present ideal ; 
and, as will be seen, even the sacraments have been 
appropriated in a peculiar way. The " Sunday Mir- 
ror," a religious weekly periodical of the Samaj, dis- 
coursed thus on the doctrine of the Trinity : 

" The doctrine of Trinity is not new in our Church. 
It was enunciated and explained in our minister's 
lecture on i Great Men ' fourteen years ago. What 
was understood as a bold unraveling of a hitherto 
misunderstood mystery has now become a part of 
the Brahmo's spiritual life. We believe in God ; and 
we believe also in his threefold manifestation, thus 
endeavoring to render our faith strong and immov- 
able. He is Father, and we live, move, and have our 
being in him. This is not enough, however. The 
second proof of the existence of God is seen in the 
lives of men. God manifests himself before the 
world, not only as Father, but as Son. He sends us 
from time to time men of large hearts, fully devoted 



186 Doomed Keligions. 

to him, coming to us as the givers of wonderful rev- 
elations of his will. "We believe God as Father, and 
we also believe him as Son. There is a third proof 
still. He appears to us as the Holy Spirit. Before the 
most devout souls he comes as the sublime inspirer, 
as the giver of new life, as the cause of the purest 
rapture, and the source of infinite happiness. We 
have before us the threefold form of God, revealing 
unto us the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.' 5 

The atonement is interpreted in the sense that the 
innocent can surrender their lives, as a sacrifice of 
toil and suffering, even unto death, for others. In 
this the Brahmos hold that Jesus did die for the 
sins of the world. In this sense the following quota- 
tion, from the Brahmo journal mentioned, must be 
understood : " Christ is represented as having died for 
the sins of the world, as having taken upon himself 
all its sins, and thus saved it. We believe every 
word of this assertion. Prophets of his stamp liter- 
ally weep for men. They place themselves in their 
position, understand their sorrows and sins, and 
make themselves a willing sacrifice for all." The 
Brahmo view of the atonement, it will be seen, does 
not differ much from the theory of this difficult sub- 
ject entertained by some Christian theologians. 

The followers of Keshub Clmnder Sen hold such 
exalted views of Christ that they seem almost wor- 
thy of being ranked as a Christian sect. They insist 



Beahmanism. 187 

that Christ is not understood in Christian theology. 
Quoting again from their literature : 

"It will take many hundred years more to dis- 
entangle the true Christ from the cobwebs of Euro- 
pean dogmatism, mediaeval superstition, and moral 
cowardice. And in that process of theological and 
spiritual purification India must have her share. 
When it is complete, not only our country, but all 
countries must receive the inward baptism which the 
Spirit of Jesus can alone confer." 

And yet they admit being drawn more toward 
Christ, and into a better understanding of him and 
his mission. The Brahmo writer just quoted says : 

"The singular feature of Keshub's orthodoxy is 
that it applies to Hinduism and Christianity alike. 
And if the movement of Keshub Chunder Sen is be- 
coming more Hinduized, it is also becoming more 
Christianized. Christ's life and character are steadily 
growing to be a ruling power in the Brahmo Samaj 
of India." 

In a lecture on " Changes in the Brahmo Samaj," 
by one of the leaders, we have this statement of how 
those more advanced reformers have come to view 
Christ : 

" It is that nameless, unspeakable sweetness in the 
life and death of Jesus Christ which sweetens the 
hearts of the bitterest sinners ; it is that sweetness 
which time cannot dissipate, distance cannot weaken, 



188 Doomed Religions. 

that hath drawn us to him. No one has brought us 
to Christ but the Spirit of God hifriself. Jesus hath 
found us and we have found him by the secret attrac- 
tion which makes our soul gravitate toward its spirit- 
ual kindred. Who then shall separate us from the 
love of Christ ? Shall persecution, or famine, or dis- 
tress, or nakedness, or the sword ? " 

A Brahmo writer in the " 'New Dispensation," the 
organ of the most advanced Brahmos, who signed 
himself a " Hindu Servant of Christ," thus opened 
his heart: 

" I love Jesus. I love those that love him. I have 
not accepted Christ through any dogma, directly 
through any book or man. Jesus has. graciously 
manifested himself to me ; and as I see him through 
my soul's eye my heart is captivated by him ; I see 
his sweet face in the chamber of my heart, and my 
eyes shed tears secretly ; my Jesus is my all and all. 
I see Jesus every-where, and so I cannot identify 
myself with any particular Church or sect; yea, 
more, I believe most stanchly in the eternity and 
universality of the Son of God. He came out from 
the bosom of his Father, and as his holy feet trod 
the pathways of the ancient land of the Hebrews, he 
sanctified their laws and prophets and gave a new life 
and light to them. The eternal Logos had also in his 
own time hallowed the philosophy of the great Greeks. 
India likewise is a great nation, the same uncreated 



Brahmaistism. 189 

Wisdom had inspired our sages and prophets from 
the beginning, and prepared our great country for 
his holy advent ; and now when we have seen him — 
the Son of God — shall there be a continual severance 
between himself and what he has already done ? " 

And yet, we must not be misled by these appar- 
ently unqualified statements. The Brahmos now and 
then seek to define their position clearly. In a re- 
cent number of their " Keview," in an article on " The 
Place of Christ in the New Dispensation," meaning 
the Brahmo movement, we find this statement : 

"Once for all let it be distinctly said that the 
Brahmo-Samaj believes in a divine humanity. In 
the estimation of the Samaj, then, Christ is nothing 
more than the ideal of a divine humanity. Divinity, 
within human limitations only, can present us with a 
practical model of character. Christ is at the head 
of the whole hierarchy of saints and sons of God, 
culminating in love, holiness, faith, and truth, as 
the highest point of divinely sympathizing humanity 
which it is the ambition of Theism to foster and dis- 
seminate." This statement is not intended to present 
the divinity of Christ in the sense held by orthodox 
Christians. Brahmoism is Arianism, in seeming to 
hold that Jesus is the highest of creatures known to 
man. There is a sense in which the advanced leaders 
of the Samaj seem to see that Christ is yet to make 
India his own. In his anniversary lecture in 1878, 



190 Doomed Religions. 

Keshub Chunder Sen said : " Gentlemen, you cannot 
deny that your hearts have been touched, conquered, 
and subjugated by a superior power. That power, need 
I tell you, is Christ. It is Christ who rules British 
India, and not the British government. England 
has sent out a tremendous moral force in the life and 
character of that mighty Prophet, to conquer and 
hold this vast empire. None but Jesus, none but 
Jesus, ever deserved this bright, this precious diadem, 
India; and Jesus shall have it." This is remarkable 
language, and it is not likely that many of the 
Brahmos are yet fully prepared to indorse it. 

The most recent phase of this Hindu theistic 
Church is the adoption of the Christian sacraments. 
The rite of baptism was observed for the first time 
in the following manner: After a service in the 
Brahmo church, a party formed a procession, and 
with musical instruments and singing, proceeded 
solemnly to the edge of a bathing tank near by. 
Here the flag of the "New Dispensation" was un- 
furled to the breeze. The minister, Keshub Chunder, 
then prayed thus to the water : " O Friend of the hu- 
man race, thou satisfiest our hunger, thou appeasest 
our thirst, thou cleansest our body and our home, 
and washest away filth and impurity." This was 
intended as a prayer of consecration. He then 
read the third chapter of Matthew's Gospel, and 
explained, in his way, the import of baptism. The 



Brahmanism. 191 

omnipresent Spirit of God was in the water. To be 
immersed was to be "dipped into divinity," and to 
" come out of the water full of a new or divine life." 
The minister then went into the water and prayed - 
" May I behold thy bright and sweet face, O God, my 
father, in the water that encompasses me ! Convert 
this water into the water of grace and holiness. May 
thy beloved Son abide in my soul, and may thy Holy 
Spirit hover over my head and inspire me!" He 
then immersed himself three times, saying, "Glory 
unto the Father, glory unto the Son, glory unto the 
Holy Ghost." After this, several men, now called 
apostles in this "New Dispensation," poured water 
on the minister's head, thus completing the ceremony. 
The minister then proceeded to sprinkle water on the 
heads of "assembled devotees." Others, including 
women and children, were also immersed, or rather, 
immersed themselves. There has, so far, been no 
general ■ application of this rite to the Brahmo com- 
munity. 

Equally remarkable was the first public observ- 
ance of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, concern- 
ing which one of the Brahmo writers asked : 

"Jesus! Is the sacramental rite meant only for 
those nations that are in the habit of taking bread 
and wine ? Are the Hindus excluded from partaking 
of the holy eucharist ? Wilt thou cut us off, because 
we are rice-eaters and teetotalers? That cannot be. 



192 Doomed Keligions. 

Both unto Europe and Asia thou hast said : Eat my 
flesh, and drink my blood. Therefore the Hindu 
shall eat thy flesh in rice and drink thy blood in pure 
water, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled in this 
land." 

This ceremony was thus described in the leading 
Brahmo paper : 

" On Sunday, March 6, the ceremony of adapting 
the sacrament to Hindu life was performed w r ith due 
solemnity, in accordance with the principle above set 
forth. The Hindu apostles of Christ gathered after 
prayer in the dinner-hall, and sat on the floor upon 
bare ground. Upon a silver plate was rice, and in a 
small goblet was water, and there were flowers and 
leaves around both. The minister read the following 
verses from Luke xxii : ' And he took bread, and 
gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, say- 
ing, This is my body which is given for you : this do 
in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after 
supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my 
blood, which is shed for you.' 

" A prayer was then offered, asking the Lord to 
bless the sacramental rice and water : ' Touch this rice 
and this water, O Holy Spirit, and turn their grossly 
material substance into sanctifying spiritual forces, 
that they may, upon entering, our system be assimi- 
lated to it as the flesh and blood of all the saints in 
Christ Jesus. Satisfy the hunger and thirst of our 



Brahmanism. 193 

souls with the rich food and drink thou hast placed 
before us. Invigorate us with Christ-force and nour- 
ish us with saintly life.' 

" The Lord blessed the rice, and he blessed the 
water. And these were then served in small quanti- 
ties to those around, and men ate and drank reverent- 
ly, and the women and children also ate and drank, and 
they blessed God, the God of prophets and saints." 

It is difficult to say just what importance the ad- 
vanced Brahmos attach to these sacraments. A half- 
formed purpose to obey the command and follow the 
example of Jesus may be in it, with a vague impres- 
sion that the import of the symbolism adopted may 
be realized. 

It is difficult to anticipate whereunto this notable 
movement may grow. The phase of it just described 
is the extreme advance. The older section, from 
which Keshub Chunder first separated, has been left 
far behind in this approach toward Christianity. 
The advanced party, in many things, manifests an 
earnest and truth-seeking spirit ; and, at times, a relig- 
ious devotion and fervor, truly surprising, marks their 
writings and religious services. 

There can be no doubting the fact that the better 
Brahmos most earnestly desire the moral renovation 
of India. They watch the attitude of the govern- 
ment closely on questions involving moral issues. 

They are opposed to the opium trade ; they are op- 
13 



194: Doomed Religions. 

posed to every thing that fosters the liquor traffic. 
In education, the British government has adopted a 
so-called strictly neutral policy in religion, which 
tends, in the way carried out, as the missionaries and 
Brahmos generally hold, to irreligion. On this point 
the Brahmo " Quarterly " thus spoke out : 

" If Hinduism or Christianity could come under 
the definition of religious sectarianism, is it not 
worse than sectarianism to teach the doctrine of 
Hume and Huxley ? Their sectarianism is equally, 
if not much more, narrow and intolerant; but, in- 
stead of being religious, it has the advantage of being 
irreligious. If religious sectarianism be forbidden by 
religious neutrality, how much more is irreligious 
sectarianism forbidden thereby, which saps the foun- 
dations of all religion, and all belief in authority ? 
But our educational authorities have determined to 
fill the empty thrones of the Hindu pantheon with 
such popular deities as Hume, Huxley, Spencer, and 
Bain, and the whole host and phalanx of the apostles 
of unbelief. And the principle of government neu- 
trality strains at a gnat but swallows a camel." 

Men like these must certainly make a profound 
impression on the future of India. These men are 
set for the overthrow of Brahmanism. 

It is difficult to estimate the exact number of na- 
tives who may be fairly enrolled as Brahmos. The 
number who are heartily and consistently in earnest 



Brahmanism. 195 

is comparatively small, being only in the hundreds. 
A considerable number give a nominal adhesion to 
the movement, yet maintain their connection with 
orthodox Brahmanism. The samajes of all kinds or- 
ganized over India may be more than one hundred. 

The Brahmo Samaj is not the only agency work- 
ing for the overthrow of popular Brahmanism. An- 
other reformer, Dyanand Saraswati, a Brahman, has 
more recently risen, who is traversing India from one 
end to the other, preaching a crusade against idola- 
try and many other matters in the Brahmanical sys- 
tem. He holds to the divine inspiration and infalli- 
bility of the Vedas, and rejects most later books. 
He claims that the Vedas teach a pure monotheism, 
and he has undertaken the fatal task of proving that 
they are a repository of all scientific knowledge. He 
is a man of overtowering individuality, has great dia- 
lectic power, and bears down every thing before him 
in discussion with his countrymen. He has aroused 
great opposition in all parts of the country, but yet is 
securing a following. He is stoutly opposed to the 
Brahmo Samaj. He occupies nearly the same posi- 
tion, touching the Yedas, that the Brahmos did in 
their early history. Dyanand fights the Christian 
missionaries with all his power. He has founded 
societies in many places, called the Arya Samaj, or 
assembly of Aryans. He rejects the name Hindu, as 
of recent and unwarranted authority, and claims that 



196 Doomed Religions. 

his people are the progenitors of the great Aryan 
race, and should be called Aryans. This powerful 
leader will do much to tear down popular Brahman- 
lsm. His weakness is in the untenable position he 
has taken upon the Vedas. 

Among the forces inevitably destructive of Brah- 
manism may be mentioned the secular higher edu- 
cation of the government, particularly as imparted 
through the English language. Yery few can pur- 
sue this course of education without having their 
confidence in the religion of their forefathers 
shaken, if not destroyed. The smallest number of 
educated natives have joined the Brahmo Samaj. 
Some have taken up with the reform Dyanand Saras- 
wati is pushing. Many more hardly know what they 
do believe, or what to believe. We find atheists say- 
ing they no longer believe in any God, and agnostics 
saying that they cannot know any thing about the 
matter. Between these we have skeptics of all 
grades — deists, theists, and semi-Christians. Various 
societies for discussion and the promotion of reform 
and supposed improvement are springing up all over 
the country. The scene of wide-spread disintegration 
going on in a mighty system, that has ruled the 
destiny of a large part of the human race for thou- 
sands of years, is one of intense interest to the mis- 
sionary. By no means least in promoting this gen- 
eral ferment is the work that he is carrying on. 



Bhahmanism. 197 

Mere secular education would wreck Brahmanism, 
but would fail miserably of reconstructing India mor. 
ally. The Gospel is pulling down the stronghold of 
Brahmanism with irresistible effect, and in its stead 
is rearing the temple of God. Already some of the 
noblest and most cultured minds in the great Hindu 
race have been builded into this temple. To many 
the Gospel is becoming a blessed rest from the un- 
satisfying expedients tried in vain, and a moral balm 
for their sin-sick souls. 

It is cause of rejoicing that the missionary societies 
of Europe and America have planted the Gospel 
standard every-where throughout India. In the lan- 
guage of India's boldest non-Christian reformer, be- 
fore quoted, "none but Jesus ever deserved this 
bright, this precious diadem, India ; and Jesus shall 
have it." 



198 Doomed Religions. 



PARSEEISM.* 



— v^ 
BY EEV. J. M. THOBUEN, D.D., 

OF SOUTH INDIA CONFERENCE OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

THE religions system, popularly known as Parsee- 
ism, has fewer adherents than any other estab- 
lished non-Christian faith which the missionary en- 
counters in any part of the world, but it has a 
history of peculiar interest which attracts, and even 
fascinates, the thoughtful student, and has given the 
Parsee people a prominence in the religious world 
which they could not otherwise have attained. As a 
people they rank high, in every respect, in the Orient- 
al world ; but their chief glory lies in the fact that 
they are the lineal descendants of the men who 
marched under the banners of Cyrus and Darius, 
and that they profess, with some modifications, the 
religion of the wise men with whom Daniel was 
associated, and of the mysterious strangers who came 

♦The Mohammedan conquerors of Persia called the followers of 
Zoroaster, Guebres. They call themselves Behendies, that is, followers 
of the true faith. We generally know them as Fire Worshipers, or 
Parsees, the latter meaning, simply, people of Persia. There are,, 
perhaps, 100.000 of them remaining in Persia, dwelling chiefly in the 
city of Yezd and province of Kerman. Those in India number not 
far from 100,000, and are chiefly in Bombay and its vicinity — J. M. R. 



Parseeism. 199 

from the East to lay the first tribute of the Gentile 
nations at the feet of the world's future King. 
More than twelve centuries ago these exiles left their 
native land, rather than forsake the faith of their 
fathers, and took refuge in Western India under the 
hospitable protection of a tolerant Hindu prince, and 
through all the centuries since they have preserved 
their own individuality, both of person and charac- 
ter, even more strikingly than the Jews have done in 
the various lands of their exile. The Parsee can be 
recognized at a glance wherever he is met. Thirty- 
six generations of life in India have not assimilated 
him in any marked degree to the people around him. 
He is a Persian still, but a nobler and better Persian 
than those of his race who are the offspring of thirty- 
six generations of blighting Mohammedan rule. 

To trace the various developments of Parseeism 
from its beginning, we must go far back to the very 
dawn of the history of our race. While the great 
Aryan family was still living in its ancestral home, in 
a highland region west of the sources of the Oxus, a 
primitive and comparatively pure faith was held by 
the common ancestors of the Hindu, the Persian, and 
the modern European. It was probably a patriarchal 
theism, not very unlike that professed by the imme- 
diate ancestors of Abraham ; but as in Ur of the 
Chaldees, so in ancient Arya, a steady deterioration 
seems to have set in almost from the first, and the 



200 Doomed Keligions. 

great majority of the Aryan people rapidly lapsed 
into gross polytheism. 

Such was the early fate of the successive tribes 
who migrated westward, and also, at a later date, of 
those who found their way through the mountain 
passes of the north-west into the sunny plains of 
upper India. The ancestors of the ancient Persians, 
however, formed a notable exception to the general 
rule, and long mthstood the tide which well-nigh 
swept away the primitive theism of the race. For a 
time the Persian and Hindu, the Avestan and the 
Yedist, of ancient times, seem to have stood side by 
side, but a sharp line of distinction was soon drawn 
between them, and the Avestan took his stand more 
firmly under the banner of theism, while the Yedist 
wandered off into gross nature worship, which, in 
turn, became a system of undisguised polytheism. 

Just what the relation originally subsisting between 
these two peoples was, it is impossible to determine. 
It is thought by many that they were at first one 
people, and that a religious schism led to a separation 
between them, while others maintain that they were 
tribal members of the same ethnic family, living side 
by side, speaking dialects of the same language, and 
professing the same religion. It is very certain, how- 
ever they may have been situated, that their interests 
were so blended that a change in the religion of the 
one party was quickly and keenly felt by the other, 



Parseeism. 201 

and hence a lapse toward idolatry on the part of the 
Vedists must either draw the Avestans with it or 
drive them into hostility. The outlines of the orig- 
inal common religion of the two peoples can very 
readily be drawn from the references found in the 
most ancient scriptures of the two rival creeds. God 
was worshiped with simple rites as the Supreme 
Ruler of the world. His name was invoked in hymns 
and prayers, and sacrifices of various kinds were 
offered to him. Among these one form, called the 
Horn, still survives among both the Hindus and 
modern Parsees, a striking relic of their common 
origin in ancient Arya, The intoxicating liquor made 
from the juice of the Soma plant was poured out as a 
libation, and fire was esteemed sacred, though not 
worshiped as a symbol of the Deity. 

Various objects in nature, as the sky, the sun, the 
winds, were looked upon with reverence as so many 
symbols of the unseen Lord of all. But while a sys- 
tem of nature symbolism seems to have been adopted 
by them, God only was worshiped as supreme. 

In course of time, a marked tendency developed 
itself among the ancestors of the present Hindus to 
elevate these symbols into so many deities ; m other 
words, to establish polytheism in the place of theism, 
and to obscure the simplicity of their primitive faith 
and worship by the introduction of new rites and 
ceremonies. The result was a complete disruption of 



202 Doomed Religions. 

the community, and the separate organization of what 
may henceforth be called the Avestan or Zoroastrian 
religion. The Yedists moved away to the eastward, 
and gradually, in spite of a remarkable culture and 
superior advantages, sank to a low level of idolatry, 
while the Avestans, moving slowly westward, re- 
formed and revived their ancestral faith, and, in the 
fullness of time, stepped out on the world's broad 
stage, and played a most important part in directing the 
destinies of the race. This reform, as well as much 
of the subsequent career of the people, was largely 
owing to the genius and devotion of one man, Zara- 
thustra Spitama, the Zoroaster of tradition and history. 
A hundred dates have been assigned to the birth of 
this great man, the oldest being six thousand years 
removed from the latest. Some respectable scholars 
have argued in favor of a date within the Christian 
era, while others have contended that his age must 
have been but a few centuries before our era, forget- 
ting meanwhile that all Oriental antiquity was fa- 
miliar with the name and fame of a great religious 
leader, called Zoroaster, who in very distant times was 
always spoken of as one who had lived in a time 
still more distant. It is not to be wondered at that a 
criticism which has denied the existence of Homer, 
and questioned the authenticity of Shakespeare's 
works, should make haste to solve the difficulty in the 
case of Zoroaster by denying that he ever existed at 



Parseeism. 203 

all, but this is merely an indifferent conjecture. It 
may be true, as is claimed, that the name Zoroaster 
was the title of an order of priests, and hence borne 
by many successive persons, but this does not touch 
the question of the existence of the Zoroaster of his- 
tory. It is solely a question of names, and long ago 
the difficulty was removed by giving the true Zoroas- 
ter his surname of Spitama, a name which is said to 
have been borne by his family. It is perfectly cer- 
tain that at an early period in the dispute which broke 
out between the Avestan and Yedist people a great 
leader arose among the former, who effected a radical 
reform in the religion of the people, changed many 
of the popular rites and conceptions, by abolishing 
some and giving a new interpretation to others, and 
laid the foundation of a religious faith, which, to the 
present day, continues to bear the distinct impress of 
his hand. If no Zoroaster ever lived, a man equally 
great and exactly corresponding to the Zoroaster of 
history must have lived, and lived at the time of the 
great Avestan reformation which, undoubtedly, took 
place twelve or fifteen centuries before Christ. Little 
or nothing is known about him except what appears 
in his religious teachings, but these have been pre- 
served in the ancient portions of the Zend-Avesta, 
and in the religious life of the Persian people. 

The Zend-Avesta, the name popularly given to the 
Parsee scriptures, is a collection of ancient writings, 



204 Doomed Religions. 

divided into three sections, the Yasna, or psalms, the 
Yispered, or liturgy, and the Yendidad, or law. 
This division is not strictly accurate, but it indicates 
the general character of each section of the scriptures. 
The name Zend-Avesta is not an accurate title, and 
does not occur in the scriptures themselves. The 
Parsees maintain that Avesta means the original text, 
and Zend its translation into Pehlevi, the language of 
Persia in the third century of our era. The best 
authorities, however, discard this view, and maintain 
that Avesta means "law," and Zend, commentary. 
The late Dr. Haug applied the title Avesta to the 
older portions of the scriptures, and Zend to the later 
additions, these consisting in a large measure of ex- 
positions and amplifications of the original text. As 
the whole collection, called the Zend-Avesta — which 
is probably but a fragment of the former scriptures 
of the Parsees — has been popularly ascribed to Zoroas- 
ter, but, like all similar scriptures, is undoubtedly the 
growth of many centuries, and Zoroaster can only be 
credited with its earlier portions, the distinct claim 
made in some portions of these scriptures that they 
were revealed to him, and by him given to the 
world, cannot be accepted as a proof of the slightest 
value in the face of the overwhelming internal evi- 
dence of successive portions of the collection, that 
they were written at widely distant periods, and 
under the influence of widely varying phases of relig- 



Pakseeism. 205 

ious thought. The changes of language noticeable 
in the successive portions of these writings are much 
greater than those found in different parts of the 
Hebrew Bible, and indicate that many centuries must 
have elapsed between the age of Zoroaster and that 
of the earliest writers of the liturgical scriptures. 
The earlier hymns of the Yasna may very safely 
be accredited to him, and it is probable that portions 
of the earlier liturgy, if not written by him, are still 
in the main the formulated expression of rites which 
he had instituted. 

As already intimated, Zoroaster was a great reform- 
er. He led the revolt of his followers against the 
polytheistic worship of the Yedic system, and waged 
uncompromising war against it. The deified elements 
were no longer worshiped, and the Devas, or deities 
of the Yedists, were either discarded or transformed 
into demons, and held up as objects of abhorrence 
and hatred. Sacrifice was abolished, and the only 
approach to it which was tolerated was the presenta- 
tion of a victim before the sacred fire, preparatory 
to its being eaten by those presenting it. Fire was 
still regarded as a sacred symbol of the invisible 
Deity, but it was no longer worshiped. The Soma 
liquor was forbidden, but at a later day it was again 
introduced and allowed to be used in an unfermented 
state. And with the abolition of sacrifice and most 
of the distinctive features of the Indian system, the 



206 Doomed Religions. 

rising power of the priesthood passed away, and the 
people were left in the enjoyment of that simple and 
comparatively pure worship for which they were 
long distinguished among the Asiatic nations. With- 
out priest or sacrifice, without idols, and without a 
pantheon, they long remained among the nations a 
people only less peculiar than those whom Moses led 
out of Egypt. It is not to be supposed that they 
maintained the primitive faith of Zoroaster without 
corruption, or that fire was always regarded, even 
among the best informed, as no more than a symbol. 
There are abundant evidences that this was not the 
case, and yet it must be conceded that the reform of 
Zoroaster was remarkable in the elements of perma- 
nency which entered into it. 

The ancient Parsee does not seem to have longed 
to go back to his Egypt, and never during all the 
centuries of ancient Persian history did any Baal 
supplant the worship of Ahura-Mazda, the Jehovah of 
the ancient Persian. Zoroaster was no eclectic. He 
proclaimed war against error, and his gospel was pref- 
aced by a call to come out from among the profane. 
The devout Zoroastrian was a hater of idolatry and 
error, particularly in those forms known among 
his own ancestors. Sad lapses occurred at different 
periods, but the mass of the people never set up idols, 
or sank to the low religious level of the surrounding 
nations. 



Parseeism. 207 

Zoroaster was not only a reformer, but a teacher. 
He brought back his people to the primitive theistic 
faith of their fathers, and in doing so he taught them 
a much purer theology than any to be found in any 
other ancient scriptures, with the sole exception of 
our Bible. The God whom he adored was supreme. 
He was called by two names, Ahura and Mazda, 
sometimes used separately, and sometimes combined 
into the single name Ahura-Mazda, precisely like 
the Hebrew usage of the terms Lord and God, or 
Lord God. In later ages the compounded word be- 
came contracted into Ormuzd, and in this form has 
long been popularly known as the Parsee name of 
Deity. Zoroaster not only taught that God is su- 
preme, but that he is the creator of all things, and 
the preserver of all men. He is good and wise, pure 
and holy, spiritual and eternal, and the source of all 
happiness, goodness, virtue, and blessing. To him, 
and to him only, is the homage of every creature 
due. He rewards the good and virtuous, not only 
-with earthly blessings in this life, but with the prom- 
ise of eternal bliss in the life beyond. In short, as 
has been remarked by various writers, his conception 
of God is scarcely less worthy than that of the patri- 
archs of the Bible. Other heavenly, though, strictly 
speaking, not divine, beings are spoken of, the six 
highest of whom are called Amesha-Spentas, but 
these are creatures of Ahura-Mazda, and seem to 



208 Doomed Religions. 

have been ministering spirits before him. To the 
Christian reader, familiar with ennobling conceptions 
of angelic hosts, led by archangel and seraph, sur- 
rounding the ineffable throne of Jehovah, these de- 
scriptions of mysterious beings associated with the 
Lord of all are not likely to be accepted as so many 
proofs of the spiritual degradation of the ancient 
sage. It is easy to say that these Amesha-Spentas 
were creatures of the imagination, but every Chris- 
tian is bound to concede that the imagination which, 
in the dim light of that early day, could give form 
to such conceptions must have been a very noble one 
indeed. 

The teachings of Zoroaster concerning the invisible 
world are very remarkable, and cannot fail to impress 
the Christian reader by the marked resemblance which 
they bear, in outline at least, to the accepted doctrines 
of the Bible. There is a heaven, called Garo-Demana, 
or House of the Angels' Hymns, and a hell, called 
Drajo-Demana, the residence of devils and priests of 
the Deva, or Yedic religion. After death the souls 
of both good and bad proceed along a narrow bridge, 
called the Bridge of the Gatherer; but such is the 
straitness of this narrow way that only the good can 
maintain their footing, and even they are assisted by 
an attendant angel. The souls of the wicked fall off, 
and are plunged into the gulf of perdition below, 
while the good are welcomed by an archangel who 



Paeseeism. 209 

greets tliem as those coming from " mortality to im- 
mortality." The wicked are described as in " outer 
darkness," in the presence of the ruler of darkness, 
kept in bonds and forced to partake of poisoned ban- 
quets. In such descriptions the embellishments of 
later teachers may no doubt be detected, but the 
original outline may be accredited to Zoroaster him- 
self. Most striking of all is the doctrine of the resur- 
rection of the body. Though more clearly taught at 
later periods, and not directly taught in the earliest 
hymns of the Tasna, the word used for resurrection 
is one taken from Spitama's hymns, and the chief 
expert in Avestan learning, Dr. Haug, regards it 
as certain that the doctrine as held among the Per- 
sians was wholly of Zoroastrian origin. This resurrec- 
tion is to be a general one, and is immediately to pre- 
cede the last judgment, after which the devout Zo- 
roastrian was taught to look for a new heavens and a 
new earth, in which sin and suffering would no more 
find a place. 

The one conspicuous error in the Zoroastrian sys- 
tem, and the one for which Zoroaster has been most 
persistently blamed by Christian writers, is the doc- 
trine of a divine dualism, the existence of two co- 
eternal and co-equal deities, one good and the other 
evil, the Ormuzd and Ahriman of Persian tlieologj\ 
There is much, however, to be said, even here, in ex- 
planation or defense of the teaching of the founder 
14 



210 Doomed Religions. 

of the system. In the first place, it is by no means 
certain that Zoroaster Spitama actually taught that 
Ahriman was a distinct personage. The earliest 
doctrine taught among the ancient Zoroastrians was, 
that two opposite and irreconcilable principles exist 
in every being, and are manifested in every operation 
of nature. The actual existence of evil in the world 
was clearly apprehended, and the theory of Zoroaster 
was the result of a desperate effort to give a phil- 
osophical explanation of origin of evil, a mystery 
which has ever baffled the human mind. To be 
logical he was obliged to attribute these two opposite 
poles of character to God himself, and thus, when 
God created the world, the marks of the evil principle 
were left upon his works. As might have been ex- 
pected among a people living in the early dawn of 
religious thought, this evil principle was speedily 
separated in the popular mind from the supreme Or- 
muzd, and exalted to a position of rival authority as 
the author of evil and the ruler of darkness. It 
ought to be observed, however, that in the most an- 
cient portions of the Zend-Avesta, the hymns of the 
Yasna, Angro-Mainyus or Ahriman is never spoken 
of as supreme, or as equal with Ormuzd. Ahri- 
man is not endowed with foreknowledge, nor is he 
equal in power to Ormuzd. He is great, but not 
omnipotent; exalted, but not supreme. He op- 
poses all good, and is the author of all evil, but his 



Pakseeism. 211 

kingdom is to come to an end, and he himself finally 
perish. 

Just how far Zoroaster is to be held responsible for 
all the details of the dualistic doctrine of the ancient 
Persians, cannot now be determined, but it is more 
than probable that the system, as a whole, if not di- 
rectly framed by him, was the logical outgrowth of 
his teaching. That he grappled resolutely with the 
dark problem of the origin of evil cannot be doubted, 
and that he failed in his solution may readily be ad- 
mitted. But before condemning him as a founder 
and propagator of error, he ought to be placed in 
comparison with his contemporaries. "While all the 
rest of the world were gliding silently into pantheism, 
this great man refused to be blind to the evidence 
both of fact and consciousness. His former kins- 
men, now settled in North-west India, were already 
weaving the pantheistic net in which their descend- 
ants were to be kept entangled for thirty centuries ; 
Egypt and Babylon had practically adopted the same 
blind and blinding theory. Evil and good were not 
essentially different. There was one great unity in 
nature and in the universe, and the various forms 
and operations seen around us are but illusions. 
They are not distinct, as they seem to be, but belong 
to, emanate from, and sink back into, the basal unity 
of all being, which may be, if one so wishes, called 
God. Evil, even sin, in all its most horrible forms, is 



212 Doomed Religions. 

thus identified with the very existence of God, and 
thus a system is put forward which is as blighting to 
man's moral nature as it is dishonoring to his intellect. 
The early Church was brought more directly and 
more antagonistically into contact with the dualistic 
philosophy than with the more subtle and less assert- 
ive pantheism of the times, and hence the former has 
come in for a larger share of Christian repudiation 
and hostility than it relatively deserved. But as it 
was, and much as it dishonored God and misled the 
religious inquirer, it was infinitely less harmful than 
pantheism. It clearly and constantly recognized the 
difference between good and evil, which pantheism de- 
liberately confounded. If it exalted the devil, it did 
not deliberately attempt to obliterate God. It recog- 
nized the universal consciousness of sin in the race, 
did homage to conscience, and taught its disciples to 
hate evil and resist temptation. Dualism was a great 
error, but pantheism was a great blight. If it be 
the shame of Zoroaster that he was the founder of 
Persian dualism, it must be set down as his glory 
that he did not glide with the world's current into 
pantheism. 

It would be impossible, within the limits of this 
brief sketch, to attempt to give an outline of the 
changes which the religion of Zoroaster underwent 
between the time of his death and the era of Cyrus. 
Suffice it to say, that during the long centuries which 



Parseeism. 213 

intervened many leaders arose to expound the doc- 
trines of the great reformer and prophet of ancient 
Iran. 

The name of Zoroaster became more and more 
revered as the years passed by, until at last he was 
regarded as little short of a divine personage. Large 
sections of the later Zend-Avesta were represented as 
having been given by the Almighty to Zoroaster, and 
he began to be credited with nearly every good and 
great thing belonging to the ancient history of his 
people. His name was stamped on every doctrine 
to give it currency, and on every great leader to give 
him authority. Much of the uncertainty which has 
hung around the person of this great man has, no 
doubt, been owing to the fact that the same illus- 
trious name was given to more than one great leader. 
Meanwhile, with this undue reverence for the found- 
er of their religion, the ancient Persians, no doubt, at 
certain periods, at least, lapsed far in the direction of 
idolatry, although they never worshiped idols. 

The sun, to many of the less cultivated and 
thoughtful, became more than a symbol of the Lord 
of light and King of heaven, and the sacred fire be- 
came more than an emblem of divine life and en- 
ergy. Corruptions of many kinds crept in, and the 
ancient scriptures, as well as more modern writ- 
ings, indicate clearly that more than once there was 
sad retrogression in the direction of darkness and 



214 Doomed Religions. 

error. An elaborate ritualism succeeded to the sim- 
plicity of the earlier days, and thus the way was pre- 
pared for the great revolution which was effected by 
the amalgamation of Avestanism with Magism. 

It is impossible to determine where or when the 
ancient Zoroastrians first came in contact with Ma- 
gism. The name itself does not occur in the Zend- 
Avesta, but magic arts are denounced in language 
which plainly indicates that the two religious systems 
had come into sharp collision, and it is very probable 
that, after the first contact, centuries elapsed before 
the two were blended into one. The origin of Ma- 
gism is involved in much obscurity. It is claimed 
by some that it originated among the Scythians, by 
others among the Chaldeans, and by others among 
the Assyrians. The once prevalent opinion that it 
was of Persian origin is now abandoned. Wherever 
it may have originated, it is evident that it had its 
most striking development among the Chaldeans, and 
also that, as it spread among the nations of Asia, it 
adapted itself in some measure to the character and 
institutions of the people who received it. The 
Magian Medes, who marched into Babylon at the 
capture of that great metropolis, found a religion 
like their own, and yet very different in many of its 
features. The Babylonian Magi were probably able 
to teach the Medes many mysteries and some scraps 
of science of which they were ignorant, while it is 



Parseeism. 215 

certain that the Medes carried with them purely 
Zoroastrian doctrines, of which the Babylonian Magi 
knew little, and with which they probably had little 
sympathy. 

The Book of Daniel has made every one familiar 
with the " wise men " of Babylon. They were a 
priestly order, and most of them occupied a high 
rank, and w T ere greatly venerated, but it is probable 
that, even in the most palmy days of the system, 
many of the Magi were nothing more than vulgar 
jugglers. From the Book of Daniel it would seem 
that in the common list of those called Magi, or be- 
longing to this order, were astrologers, interpreters 
of signs and sacred writings, conjurors, exorcists, 
soothsayers, diviners, and other like orders ; but all 
belonged to a kind of priestly college, and enjoyed 
many immunities and privileges. They maintained 
a state of great pomp, and by the power which their 
crafty system gave them to interfere more or less 
in every interest of the people, whether religious, 
domestic, or political, they were able to wield an 
authority only second to that of the despots, who sat 
upon the throne So long as they could maintain their 
claim that they were God's interpreters, no homage 
was considered too sacred for them, and the picture 
of the impulsive Babylonian monarch falling down 
to worship Daniel, who was one of their number, is 
perfectly true to the character of the times and the 



216 Doomed Religions. 

ideas of the people. As might be conjectured, their 
pretensions seem to have far outrun their actual 
powers, and it is no doubt with perfect accuracy that 
the author of the Book of Daniel says that the four 
young Hebrews selected to become members of this 
order were, "in all matters of wisdom and under- 
standing, ten times better than all the magicians and 
astrologers that were in all the realm." 

The Magism with which the Zoroastrians first 
came in contact was of a different kind from this of 
Babylon. It flourished among some Scythian tribes, 
and is supposed by eminent authorities to have been 
originated by them. If so, these Scythian people 
must have been at some time closely associated with 
the ancient Zoroastrians, for their Magism was iden- 
tical in some of its features with the Zoroastrian 
religion. They regarded fire as sacred, and held it 
in greater reverence than the Zoroastrians them- 
selves. Altars were built for the sacred fire on 
" high places," on which the holy element was kept 
burning night and day. The people were taught 
that this fire had been miraculously kindled, and 
they worshiped it, not as a symbol of the Divine 
Presence, but as in itself an object of worship. All 
the elements were esteemed as sacred, and worshiped 
as such. Sacrificial victims were slain before the 
altars, but no drop of the blood could touch the fire 
lest it might pollute the flaiflfc. The Zoroastrians 



Parseeish. 217 

used in their worship a bundle of sacred rods, called 
the Baresma. A similar usage prevailed among the 
Magians, but mysterious, supernatural powers were ' 
attributed to the rods when used together, while, used 
separately, the rod in the hand of the priest would 
seem to have been something like a diviner's wand. 
Like the old Aryans of primitive days, they held the 
elements of nature as sacred, but, unlike those an- 
cient people, they did not scruple to offer direct 
worship to the symbol in its own name and for its 
own sake ; and although Zoroastrian in rejecting idols, 
they were practically polytheists in their deification 
of the elements. Earth, air, fire, and water were 
more especially objects of their adoration. A pow- 
erful priesthood held complete control of all the or- 
dinances of religion. No worship could be properly 
conducted except when a priest was present. They 
were priests in the mediatorial sense, and were also 
prophets who revealed the mind of God. Like their 
Chaldean brethren, they interpreteddreams, explained 
mysteries, and delivered divine oracles. They as- 
sumed mysterious airs, dressed in imposing style 
with white robes and tall hats, marched in solemn 
processions around the sacred fires, and succeeded in 
impressing the masses of the people with a profound 
sense of their sanctity and supernatural power. 

Among these ancient Magians the Zoroastrians 
found one singular custom, w T hich curiously lingers 



218 Doomed Keligions. 

among the Parsees of India to the present day. 
They could not adopt any of the ordinary methods 
of disposing of the bodies of their dead without 
doing violence to their religious scruples. A corpse 
was regarded as unclean, and to bury it would be to 
pollute the sacred element of earth, to sink it in 
water would be to commit an equal offense against 
that element, nor could it be burned without profan- 
ing the most sacred of all the elements. In this di- 
lemma the repulsive custom of exposing the dead to 
be devoured by carrion-eating birds was adopted, and 
through all the centuries since has been firmly main- 
tained. A small section of the ancient Persians re- 
fused to adopt a custom so revolting, and ingeniously 
evaded the religious difficulties involved by covering 
the corpse with wax, so that no part of it could touch 
the earth, and then giving it ordinary burial. This 
innovation was tolerated for the time, but in the end 
exposure of the bodies of the dead became the gen- 
eral rule. 

Of the two leading Iranian tribes the Medes were 
the first to accept Magism. The Persians were more 
firmly and intelligently attached to the Zoroastrian 
faith, and it was not till the time of Cyrus that they 
submitted to the introduction of Magian priests and 
rites among them. Even then they did not yield 
without a struggle, and when, a few years later, an 
opportunity offered, they did not hesitate to rise in 



Pakseeism. 219 

fierce rebellion against the sacerdotal caste who repre- 
sented the system. Influenced probably by political 
motives, Cyrus, by a simple exercise of royal author- 
ity, introduced Magism among his Persian subjects, 
thereby paving the way for a more perfect union of 
the two peoples in one nation, and also securing for 
his own purposes the powerful support of the Magian 
priesthood. Nothing is known of the details of this 
great revolution in the religious history of the Per- 
sians, but it is very evident that it was not effected 
without opposition, and that an attempt was made to 
escape from the yoke soon after the death of Cyrus. 
While Cambyses was absent in Egypt and Syria, the 
Magians rallied round the pseudo-Smerdis, assisted 
him in usurping the throne, and at once inaugurated 
a violent anti-Zoroastrian policy. This fact alone 
makes it sufficiently clear that the Zoroastrians had 
not quietly submitted to the Magian priesthood, but 
were probably in active opposition to them. The 
result of this bold stroke of policy was, for a time, 
all that the Magian party had anticipated, but the 
Persians at length rose in revolt, and having driven 
out the Magian impostor, placed the great Darius on 
the throne. That prince lost no time in reversing 
the policy of his predecessor. The religion of his 
ancestors was restored, and that of the Magians pro- 
scribed. As he himself tells us in the famous rock 
nscription of Behistun, " I rebuilt the temples which 



220 Doomed Keligions. 

Gomates the Magian — tlie pseudo-Smerdis — had de- 
stroyed, and restored to the people the religions 
chants and the worship of which Gomates the Magian 
had deprived them." He was the political Augus- 
tus and the religious Josiah of Persian history. He 
spared no pains to further the interests of the Zoroas- 
trian faith, and it was during his reign that the influ- 
ence of Persia on the rest of the world was most 
widely felt. In his day the religion of Zoroaster was 
the State Church of the power which swayed its 
scepter from the Indus to the Danube, and from the 
Nile to the Oxus. Under successive Persian blows 
the degrading polytheism of the East staggered to its 
last fall. The religious systems of Assyria and Baby- 
lonia never again influenced any nation. The entice- 
ments of surrounding polytheism never again were a 
source of danger to the Jews, for from the era of 
Darius Asiatic polytheism lost its power to charm. 
For nearly two hundred years idolatry was subjected 
to the contempt, and sometimes to the persecution, of 
the ruling power, and during all these years a silent 
preparation was being made for the coming of the 
common faith of all nations. 

It is impossible to leave these Persian monarchs 
without pausing a moment to note their appearance in 
our own Scriptures. Both Cyrus and Darius were 
special protectors and friends of the Jews in exile, 
and a flood of light is poured upon the brief refer- 



Parseeism. 221 

ences made to them by considering their Zoroastrian 
sympathies and training. Alone among the nations 
the Persians had rejected idolatry and maintained a 
faith in the Supreme Kuler of the universe, the Cre- 
ator of all things, and when they found in Babylon 
a captive people who cherished a similar faith, it is 
no wonder that they at once conceived for them a 
remarkable partiality. All that is written of these 
two monarchs is in striking harmony with what is 
known of their character and policy, and it is putting 
no strain either on fair interpretation or Christian 
charity to assume that when Isaiah spoke of Cyrus 
as God's servant, he did not mean that he was to be 
the unconscious instrument of God's will, but the 
loyal servant of that " Lord God of heaven " whom 
both Cyrus and Daniel adored. 

The reform of Darius, radical and energetic though 
it was, was not permanent. A powerful priesthood 
is pretty sure in the long run to be more than a match 
for a single reformer, especially in a badly organized 
community. The Magian priests neither slept nor 
idled, and soon after the death of Darius they appear 
again at court, and gradually seem to have regained 
all the ground they had lost. Zoroastrianism in its 
pre-Magian form henceforth disappears from history, 
and the now permanently amalgamated systems are 
hereafter to be known as the religion of Zoroaster, 
but in reality to be a Magian structure built upon 



222 Doomed Religions. 

Zoroastrian foundations. In perfecting the final or- 
ganization of the amalgamated systems, it is probable, 
and nearly certain, that the master-hand of some great 
leader appeared, and this unknown organizer has by 
many been identified with the great Zoroaster him- 
self. He may have borne the same name, or the 
favorite name may have been given to him after his 
death by partial disciples, or, as is more likely, the 
persistent habit of all ancient and many modern writ- 
ers of accrediting Zoroaster with every thing connect- 
ed with Persian religious institutions, may have led to 
the mistake. The more modern Greek and Roman 
writers regarded him as belonging to this era. The 
Parsees of India have always been accustomed to 
make Zoroaster a contemporary of Darius, and when 
it is remembered that their religion, in its present 
form, originated at or near that period, it is not strange 
that they should fall into the mistake of confounding 
the later innovator with the original founder of the 
system. ♦ 

In the organization which was perfected at this 
time the position and prerogatives of the priesthood 
were carefully defined. The Magi were divided into 
three classes : the Herbeds, or learners ; the Mobeds, 
or masters ; and the Destur-Mobeds, or perfect schol- 
ars. The Desturs are still the recognized priests 
among the modern Parsees, and are the accepted 
authorities in matters pertaining to religion. Cer- 



Pakseeism. 223 

emonialism began to take a more prominent place 
in all religious services before the time of Darius. 
Dream expounding, divination, incantations over the 
sacred fire, and various superstitious practices per- 
manently took the place of the simpler rites of the 
old Avestan faith. Important developments of doc- 
trine also appeared at this period. The popular be- 
lief had practically confounded the original distinction 
made, as to supreme authority, between Ormuzd and 
Ahriman, and it was felt that a new statement was 
needed to save the cause of monotheism. Hence the 
doctrine of an absolute Deity, called Zerana-Aker- 
ana, the creator of both Ormuzd and Ahriman, was 
devised. Both of these deities had been created pure 
and holy, but Ahriman had proved unfaithful and 
fallen from his high estate, and thenceforth had 
become the author and prince of evil. The first 
distinct statement of this doctrine is found in the 
Bundehish, a sacred book written in a later age, but 
traces of it have been found in the older scriptures, 
and it is more than probable that the later writer 
merely put on record what was in his day the current 
religious doctrine of his people. This method of 
providing a creator for Omuzd is often popularly 
attributed to Zoroaster, but without a shred of evi- 
dence that he, or any one in his day, ever taught 
or believed any thing of the kind. It is a modem 
dogma and belongs only to the religious system which 



224 Doomed Religions. 

prevailed after the complete amalgamation of Zoro- 
astrianism with the much less noble Magism of Baby- 
lon and the Scythian tribes. 

The invasion of Persia by Alexander marks the 
beginning of a long period of decline in the Magian 
religion, extending over the five and a half centuries 
of Macedonian and Parthian rule. The Greeks were 
not persecutors, or even propagators, of their own 
faith, if, indeed, such a thing as a religious faith can 
be attributed to them. They were philosophers rather 
than believers, and in the time of their rule in Per- 
sia cared very little for the religious convictions of 
other nations. They tolerated the worship which they 
found in the countries conquered by them, and what- 
ever religious influence they may have exerted upon 
the Persians must have been of an indirect kind. 
This, however, under the circumstances, must have 
been very great. Magism was a sacerdotal system. 
Its priests were absolute dictators in all religious 
matters, and their political influence was often para- 
mount. Weak kings obeyed them, and the ablest 
monarchs were wont to consult them as men who 
could impart divine counsel. The advent of the 
Greeks put an end to all this in a day. The succes- 
sors of Alexander regarded the Magian priest as but 
little better than a pompous juggler, and the proud 
hierarchy were relegated in a body to the sphere of 
religion alone. Such a change in the position of the 



Parseeism. 225 

priests cannot but have powerfully affected the for- 
tunes of the religion which they in a large measure 
embodied. Greek speculation also made its influence 
felt, and hence it came to pass that Magism gradually 
lost its prestige, and began to yield to foreign corrup- 
tions. In later times we find Artaxerxes, or Ardshir, 
in the twofold character of king and reformer, 
mourning the pernicious influence of " the poison of 
Aristotle," as he was pleased to term Greek philoso- 
phy, and the epithet shows clearly enough that the 
religion which he was trying to reform had been seri- 
ously undermined by the spirit of speculative inquiry 
which the Greeks had introduced into Persia. The 
people were not led to reject their religious insti- 
tutions, but they ceased to venerate them as their 
fathers had done in former times. 

Meanwhile the Parthians drove out the Greeks, 
and for nearly four hundred years held the Persian 
people in subjection. Unlike the Greeks, they 
adopted the religion of their subjects, and the Ma- 
gian priests again took their place in the council 
of the king ; but it was impossible for a people so 
rude and barbarous as the Parthians to embrace the 
Magian religion without seriously corrupting it, and 
hence it naturally followed that the decline which 
had begun under the Greeks went steadily forward 
until a very low ebb was reached. The Magian sys- 
tem must be reformed and revived, or perish. Had 
15 



226 Doomed Religions. 

it been purely a religious system, it is probable that 
it would have perished with the heathenism of the 
Roman Empire ; but its intimate union with the gov- 
ernment was a powerful security to it in this crisis. 
The great Artaxerxes, or Ardshir, threw off the Par- 
thian yoke, and rapidly restored to Persia her long- 
lost political prestige, and by making himself at once 
a religious reformer and a natural deliverer, he raised 
the decaying Magian religion at once to a position of 
power and dignity which it had never before enjoyed. 
This great monarch aspired to restore Persia to the 
proud position which she had formerly occupied, and 
there is, perhaps, no instance in history in which a 
decaying and apparently almost extinct nationality 
was so effectually aroused into new life, and started 
forward in a new career of prosperity, by the efforts 
of a single man as in the case of Persia under this 
remarkable man. The Parthians, were overthrown, 
the surrounding nations overawed, and the victo- 
rious monarch at once became a most formidable 
rival, and, indeed, a menacing peril to the Romans 
themselves. The Persian people seemed in a day to 
recover the spirit of their fathers of the age of Cyrus 
and Darius, and in order to make the revived nation 
as much like the Persia of the golden age as possible, 
the king determined to rescue the national religion 
from its corruptions and to restore it to the high posi- 
tion which it had formerly enjoyed. Unfortunately, 



Parseeism. 227 

however, he knew only Magism, and perceiving the 
immense political power which he could create and 
use for his own purposes in the Magian priesthood, 
he attempted to identify that system with his gov- 
ernment and with the very life of the Persian people. 
He was remarkably successful. The Persian nation, 
and with it the Magian religion, obtained a new lease 
of life and power, which wa sfirmly held for four 
hundred years. 

The striking account given by Gibbon of the ref- 
ormation accomplished by Ardshir is still generally 
accepted in its main outlines, although much un- 
certainty exists in relation to the doctrinal changes 
which were introduced at that time. A great coun- 
cil of Magian priests was assembled by the king for 
the purpose of making a thorough restoration of the 
old system. No less than eighty thousand men re- 
sponded to the royal summons, but one half of these 
were sent back to their homes. The remaining forty 
thousand, however, were still found too many, and 
further reductions were made to four thousand, four 
hundred, forty, and at last to seven chosen priests re- 
nowned for their piety and learning. These men 
chose one of their number, a youth of great sanctity 
to whom a sacred wine was administered which threw 
him into a profound sleep. On awaking he professed 
to have had a celestial vision, and to have received a 
full revelation of the lost portions of the Zoroastrian 



228 Doomed Religions. 

scriptures, which he proceeded to unfold to the king 
and his councilors, who accepted the whole as direct 
from heaven. The story is probably the invention 
of an apologist for the many innovations introduced 
at this period. A council was very probably called, 
but the outcome of the whole reform was too radical 
and complete to have been the work of a wild en- 
thusiast. The old Magian system was re-established, 
with some modifications, and the doctrines of Zoro- 
aster were diligently taught to the people. Both 
Judaism and Christianity were prohibited, and both 
Jews and Christians were subjected to severe perse- 
cution. 

For four centuries the successors of Ardshir main- 
tained the greatness of Persia, and the Magian relig- 
ion remained the religion of the State. It had held 
its own against the great emperors at Constantinople, 
and feared no earthly foe. But suddenly the Arabs, 
with their crescent banner, like successive flights of 
locusts from the desert, began to sweep over the land. 
The Persians met them bravely and fought desper- 
ately, but were overcome. In three successive battles 
they were disastrously defeated, and no less than one 
hundred thousand Persian soldiers were left dead 
upon the field of their national Waterloo. The 
Arabs used their victory as men who had no place 
for the word mercy in their vocabulary. Of all the 
men conquered by them, none were the objects of 



Parseeism. 229 

such bitter hatred as the so-called fire worshipers, the 
Guebres of Mohammedan fable, and the object of the 
most bitter Mohammedan antipathy to the present 
day. The people of Persia were called at once to 
choose between conversion and the sword. How 
many chose the latter history will never tell, but the 
mass of the nation seem to have yielded to dire neces- 
sity, and professed the faith of their conquerors. A 
remnant, however, fled to the mountains of Khorasan, 
and built new altars for the sacred fire received from 
their fathers. Hunted and persecuted in this retreat, 
they next took refuge on the small island of Ormus, 
in the Persian Gulf, but finding themselves still too 
near their enemies, they built some small vessels and 
sailed away eastward toward the coast of India. They 
first landed on an island near the coast of Gujerat. 
Here they remained about twenty years, but finding 
the island too small for them they again took to 
their ships, and, after a narrow escape from ship- 
wreck, landed on the main-land, in the territory of a 
Hindu prince. They petitioned for the privilege of 
settling in his dominions and were graciously per- 
mitted to do so, but not until they had given the 
prince an outline of their religious faith and practice. 
This was done by drawing up in Sanskrit sixteen 
couplets, most of which, probably, contained cor- 
rect enough statements of what they really believed 
and practiced, but two or three were undoubtedly 



230 Doomed Religions. 

fabricated for the special benefit of the prince. They 
were, in brief, as follows : 

1. We are worshipers of Ormuzd, and the sun, and the five ele- 
ments. 

2. We observe silence while bathing, praying, making offerings to 
fire, and eating. 

3. We use incense, perfumes, and flowers in our religious cere- 
monies. 

4. We are worshipers of the cow. 

5. We wear the sacred garment, the sadra or shirt, the kusti or 
cincture for the loins, and the cap of two folds. 

6. We rejoice in songs and instruments of music on our marriages, 
f. We ornament and perfume our wives. 

8. We are enjoined to be liberal in our charities, and especially in 
excavating tanks and wells. 

9. We are enjoined to extend our sympathies toward males and 
females alike. 

10. We practice ablutions with gomutra (bovisurina.) 

11. We wear the sacred thread while praying and eating. 

12. We feed the sacred flame with incense. 

13. We practice devotion five times a day. 

14. We are careful observers of conjugal fidelity and purity. 

15. We perform annual religious ceremonies in behalf of our 
ancestors. 

16. We use many restraints and purifications in connection with 
natal ceremonies. 

This unique confession of faith served its purpose 
very well, although it is frankly disowned by the 
Parsees of the present day. The Hindu rajah gave 
the exiles a grant of waste land, and they soon be- 
came valuable and thoroughly loyal subjects. Four 
years after beginning their settlement they erected 
their first fire temple in India, and the fire kindled 
upon its altar, they affirmed, had been kept alive 



Pakseeism. 231 

through all their wanderings, and had been brought 
down from the days of Zoroaster himself. This tem- 
ple was built A.D. 721. For three hundred years 
the settlers remained quietly living near the scene of 
their first settlement, but after three centuries of un- 
interrupted peace they began to find their territory 
too small for them, and other settlements were formed 
at Surat, Nansari, Broach, Camboy, and other places. 
Early in the sixteenth century they were strong 
enough to form a valuable contingent in the army of 
their Hindu prince when his territories were invaded 
by their ancient and implacable foes, the Moham- 
medans. Yictorious at first, they were in the end 
defeated and obliged to fly to the mountains for ref- 
uge ; but, a few years later, they re-appeared in the 
chief cities of that part of India, and from that date 
began to rise rapidly in wealth and importance. 
When Bombay began to develop into a city of grow- 
ing commercial importance under English rule, they 
flocked to that place in large numbers, and ever since 
it has been their principal head-quarters. 

The little Parsee colony in India has been recruit- 
ed from time to time by refugees from the Persian 
fatherland, but the entire community is still small. 
A few thousand wretched survivors still keep alive 
the sacred fire in Persia itself, but they are very 
poor and objects of charity on the part of their more 
prosperous brethren in India. An intelligent Parsee 



232 



Doomed Religions. 



gentleman of Bombay, who knows his people well, 
has furnished an estimate for this essay, in which the 
total number of Parsees is put down at 76,200,* more 
than two thirds of whom are located in Bombay 
itself. In that city they occupy a conspicuous po- 
sition and are among the first objects which arrest 
the attention of strangers. On the summit of the 
low crest which shuts in the city from the sea their 
" Tower of Silence " is pointed out, a huge circular 
building, open at ttjp top, and furnished with iron 
gratings, on which the bodies of the dead are placed 
and left to be devoured by carrion birds. It is said 
that in the case of the more wealthy wire screens are 
placed over the bodies for a protection, but at best 
this old Magian custom is revolting to the finer in- 
stincts of our nature, and very often gives strangers 

* The official returns of the recent census, received since the above 
was written, give the total number of Parsees in the Bombay Presi- 
dency, including Aden, as 12,065, of whom 36,144 are males and 
35,321 females. This gives a ratio of only 44 per 10,000 on the 
total population of the Presidency. The population is distributed as 
follows : 



Bombay 48,597 

Surat 12,593 

Broach 3,042 

Thana 3,315 



Poona 1,574 

Scinde (chiefly Kurrachee) 1,063 

Aden 236 

Ahmadabad 652 



The rest are scattered in small numbers among the smaller towns 
of the Presidency. There are, also, small settlements of Parsees in 
Madras, Calcutta, Rangoon, and many other places in India ; and at 
Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong, and other Eastern ports. The in- 
crease in the city of Bombay during the last decade was about 
5,000. 



Parseeism. 233 

a mucli more unfavorable impression of the Parsees 
than they deserve. 

Many of the old religious usages are still observed 
among them, in form at least. The sacred fire burns 
in the temple ; the priest ministers at the performance 
of religious solemnities ; sacrifices are offered for the 
souls of the dead; consecrated bread and wine are 
offered in a kind of sacrament, the wine being a 
remnant of the ancient worship of the Soma juice 
by the primitive Aryans ; impurities are cleansed by 
purifications of various kinds, some of them bearing 
traces of the ancient faith, and others being of more 
recent and ignoble origin. A few customs are still 
observed among them which mark a very low level 
of superstition, but these cannot long hold their 
place. When a death occurs it is considered of the 
highest importance to the soul of the deceased that a 
dog should be brought in and made to cast a glance 
upon the corpse. Some of the rites of purification 
also are not only very silly, but exceedingly disgust- 
ing. The influence of their old notions of astrology 
continues to be felt, although modified by contact 
with the Hindus and Europeans. 

But with all their attachment to the religion and 
traditions of their fathers, it must be conceded that 
the Parsees are the most progressive people in India. 
They have abandoned the modified caste system, 
which they had borrowed from the Hindus, they 



234 Doomed Religions. 

have emancipated their women from the enforced 
seclusion of the " zenana," and their daughters are 
more generally educated than those of any other peo- 
ple in India. 

The Rev. Dhanjibhai Nauroji, in a private com- 
munication, says : 

" Education among them is universal. Male and 
female children are, in the first instance, sent to vernac- 
ular schools. These schools are, as a rule, under gov- 
ernment inspection, and consequently the education 
given in them is of a respectable character. After 
they have finished their vernacular course the boys 
among them are sent to English schools. Even the 
very poor people in some way manage to give their 
sons a knowledge of the English language. Female 
education in English is also making progress among 
the Parsees. It is, however, confined to the wealthy, 
and is looked upon as an accomplishment." 

Another Parsee gentleman says : " Almost every 
Parsee girl in Bombay can read and write." 

Polygamy never was generally prevalent among 
the Parsees, and has nearly, if not quite, disap- 
peared. 

In 1865, through the efforts of the Parsee Law 
Association, an excellent Marriage and Divorce Law 
was enacted for the special benefit of the Parsees of 
India. Commenting on this law, a Parsee gentle- 
man remarks, with very excusable pride : 



Parseeism. 235 

" In times to come the Parsees may, with very just 
pride, point to the fact that, of all Asiatic communi- 
ties, they were the first, as they are still the only, 
people who have voluntarily imposed on themselves 
a law declaring bigamy a criminal offense, and pun- 
ishable as such after the manner of English law. 
On similar grounds they may claim the honor as 
the first Oriental people who, by legally defining her 
individual marital rights, have raised woman to a 
definitely higher social position on the basis of her 
own personal claims as a reasonable and responsible 
being." 

Thus far Christianity has not made much direct 
progress among the Parsees. When the mission 
school, under the late Dr. Wilson, was first organ- 
ized in Bombay, the Parsees eagerly sent their sons 
to the institution ; but when, in 1843, two young 
men avowed their faith in Christ, and were publicly 
baptized, a strong and, for a time, bitter opposition 
was raised against all missionary agencies, and many 
years elapsed before any more converts were bap- 
tized. The total number of adult Parsee Christians 
now in India is only about a dozen, and there is not 
sufficient religious interest manifested among them 
to justify the hope of any special movement in the 
direction of Christianity at an early day. And yet 
it ought to be gratefully acknowledged that, as com- 
pared with former times, the spirit of inquiry among 



236 Doomed Religions. 

them is very marked. Many of them now listen to 
the Word very willingly, and some of them eagerly ; 
whereas in former years it was an exceptional thing 
to find any one brave enough to avow his interest in 
any faith save that of his ancestors. They are open 
to the Gospel, and some of them predisposed in its 
favor, but as yet no sign appears of a general move 
in the direction of its acceptance. Of those who 
have embraced Christianity three are missionaries in 
India, one a vicar in England, and one a medical 
student. 

The exceptional prosperity of the Parsees has not 
been very favorable to the development of the relig- 
ious side of their nature. For a century or more 
past they have been a very prosperous people, and 
some members of their community have risen to the 
position of merchant princes. A severe commercial 
crisis, which occurred at the close of the American 
war, and from which Bombay suffered more than 
any other city in India, was felt by the Parsees very 
keenly; but although its effects are still distinctly 
visible, it has only checked, but not by any means 
destroyed, the prosperity for which they have been 
noted. The natural effect of this prosperity has 
been to make them worldly. People who get a full 
share of this world's good things are seldom distin- 
guished for their eagerness, or even willingness, to 
hear about another world. 



Parseeism. 237 

The editor of the "Bengal Magazine,"* writing 
of the Parsees in 1875, says : 

" Certainly the followers of Zarathustra make the 
best of this world. They live well, 'heaven, earth, 
and ocean being plundered of their sweets and nee- 
tarious essences ' to furnish their tables. They dress 
well, their ladies dealing only in silks, satins, and 
kinkobs, in ornaments of gold, in pearls and precious 
stones of all degrees of brilliancy. Their houses are 
spacious and airy, well furnished, and the abodes of 
comfort and elegance. Hating darkness, which is 
the work of Ahriman; loving light, which is the 
creation of Ormuzd ; regarding fire as the symbol of 
the Deity himself; adoring the sun as the 'eye of 
the soul ' of this lower world, the Parsees illuminate 
their houses perhaps more than any other people in 
the world. Neither is there lack of music which 
charms the sense, the sound of the harp and violin 
being often heard in their houses. 

" Though keen men of business, it would seem 
that they are also the votaries of pleasure. 

" I had the good fortune some years ago to live 
for more than a month under the hospitable roof of 
a Parsee gentleman in the city of Bombay, at Khet- 
wady, in the very heart of the Parsee population. 
There was nothing in the habits of my Parsee host 
to show that he belonged to a gay and pleasure- 

* Rev. Lai Behari Day. 



238 Doomed Keligions. 

loving race, though he largely inherited the geniality 
and cheerfulness of his nation. His own habits were 
simple, I had almost said, severely simple. But al- 
though the sounds of festivity and gayety were not 
heard in his house, I was encompassed all round by 
an amphitheater of pleasure. Every night, as I sat 
at about nine or ten o'clock on the balcony of my 
friend's house, I witnessed a scene which shall never 
be effaced from my mind. I saw on all sides houses 
brilliantly illuminated. They seemed to be bathed 
in a flood of light. The first night I thought it 
might be some Parsee festival, but the second night 
it was just the same, and the spectacle was repeated 
every night during my residence in the city. From 
many of these well-lighted houses I heard the sound 
of music and dancing, and from others, at certain 
hours of the night, I always heard the loud calls of 
'Hip, hip, hurrah!' breaking through the stillness 
of the night. I seemed to be transported as if by 
enchantment to a different world, a world where, ap- 
parently, there was no sorrow, no sin, no death, and 
where all was mirth, gayety, and pleasure." 

It need hardly be remarked that the inhabitants of 
this kind of an enchanted world are not likely to be 
found predisposed in favor of the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ, or of a New Testament which contains the 
parable of Dives and Lazarus. Intense worldliness 
is a greater barrier to the missionary than dense 



Pakseeism. 239 

ignorance or bitter prejudice. Whether in New York 
or in Bombay, it will seldom be found that people 
given up to the world are readily accessible to the 
messenger of Him whom the world crucified. 

What the providential mission of this strangely 
interesting people may be, is a question of peculiar 
interest to every thoughtful student of their history, 
but the time has not yet come to answer it satisfac- 
torily. The Christian very naturally first looks to see 
wiiat may be expected from them in the line of mis- 
sionary labor, but the outlook is not very encourag- 
ing. It might be supposed that they would act as a 
connecting medium between the foreign missionary 
and the people of India, but thus far they do not 
seem fitted for such a position. The intense mutual 
antipathy existing between them and the Moham- 
medans make them less acceptable to the Mussul- 
man than any ordinary Christian of another race. 
Nor do they affiliate sufficiently with the Hindus to 
have a practical hold on them. Their tastes are 
more and more European, and they are rapidly grow- 
ing away from every thing Indian. They have de- 
veloped a marked tendency in recent years to imitate 
every thing that is foreign, religion excepted. They 
eat at tables, like Europeans, and fare sumptuously. 
They sometimes drink too freely, but, like the 
Oriental people of Paul's day, they abstain during 
the day, and " are drunken in the night." In their 



24:0 Doomed Keligions. 

eagerness to adopt European habits, many of them, 
no doubt,, will degenerate into fast livers, but others 
will discover that Europe has more to give them 
than wine, fast horses, luxurious houses, immodest 
theaters, and, perhaps it might be added, Masonic 
lodges. 

They have many public-spirited men among them, 
including several princely philanthropists. They 
travel freely, and boast that a lady of their com- 
munity was the first Indian lady who ever made the 
circuit of the globe. It is well for India that this 
little fcandful of her people should adopt cosmopol- 
itan ideas and tastes, and in the fullness of time it 
will, no doubt, become clearly apparent that God had 
a good design, both for the Parsee and for the coun- 
try of their adoption, when he fixed their home at 
the great western gate of the empire. 

As a religious system, Parseeism, like every thing 
else, which " decayeth and waxeth old," must soon 
vanish away. Its extraordinary tenacity of life may 
enable it to live on a very few generations longer, 
but it gains no converts, and neither hopes nor 
wishes to gain any, while the many disintegrating 
forces at work must, at no very distant date, separate 
large numbers of its adherents, at least religiously, 
from the Parsee community. 

Among these disintegrating forces, modern infi- 
delity is by no means the least potent. Wholesale 



Parseeism. 2il 

unbelief is more easily avowed than positive faith, and, 

strangely enough, the Parsees, like both Hindus and 

Mohammedans, would rather see their sons become 

disbelievers in all religions than devout disciples of 

Jesus Christ. Unbelief costs nothing, calls for no 

sacrifices, imposes no burdens, cuts through no caste 

lines, shrinks from no insincerity, and is disturbed 

by no uncomfortable monitions of conscience. It 

bows down to the idol which it despises, makes 

adoration to the fire which it does not respect, and 

mumbles the prayer which it utterly repudiates. All 

the great cities of India abound with young men who 

regard it as a badge of superior intelligence and an 

evidence of a noble manhood to scout the claims of 

all religious systems, and relegate the whole of them 

to the uncertain realm of superstition, or, at best, of 

useless speculation. 

The Parsees have not escaped this common conceit 

of the age — common especially among persons who 

have received a one-sided education, and skepticism 

has powerfully affected many of their youths. Social 

influences also must more and more . undermine the 

Parsee religion, while the system of education in 

which their children are brought up would, even of 

itself, thoroughly accomplish the work. What the 

public schools of America do for Roman Catholic 

children, the schools of Bombay, even when managed 

by Parsees themselves, must eventually do for the 
16 



242 Doomed Religions. 

rising generation of these exiles of Persia. Mean- 
while, whatever changes may occur, every Christian 
must feel a peculiar interest in this noble remnant of 
an illustrious race, and both hope and" pray that the 
kindness shown by their ancestors to God's people in 
a time of very sore trial may be abundantly requited 
to these exiles in the far-off ends of the earth, in 
which God has given them a home. 



Buddhism. 243 



BUDDHISM.* 



V — 

BY EEASTUS WENTWOKTH, D.D., 

LATE MISSIONARY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH TO FOOCHOW, 
CHINA. 

EDKINS, whose acquaintance the writer formed 
over twenty years ago as a Shanghai missionary, 
the highest living authority on a subject to which he 
has devoted a quarter of a century's study, says, 
" The best key to the understanding of Buddhism is 
to be found in the study of the life of its founder. 
In Sakya Muni himself humanity is first seen, then 
divinity. A young prince, handsome, strong, heroic, 
surrounded by pleasures, and tempted by the most 
brilliant worldly prospects, is deeply affected by ob- 
serving the miseries of human life. He becomes a 
changed man, forsakes his father's palace for a her- 
mit's cell, practices and then teaches a rigid asceti- 
cism, and dies at eighty, after a long career, occupied 

* Buddhism is the religion of perhaps 400,000,000 people, or one 
fourth the inhabitants of the entire globe. It has spread over that 
vast region north of the Himalayas as far as the boundary of 
Siberia. It is found in India, beyond the Ganges, and in Cey- 
lon, and is the prevailing faith of the empires of China and Japan. 
It is a stupendous system of errors and impurities, which severely 
taxes both the faith and resources of the Church of Jesus Christ. — 
J. M. R. 



244 Doomed Religions. 

partly with the instruction of a numerous band of 
disciples, and partly with ecstatic contemplation. 
He is deified at the moment of death — that is, his 
disciples elevate him to the summit of humanity, 
honor him as the best of teachers, and announce 
that he is forever rescued from the revolutions of 
life and death. He has entered the Nirvana, and, 
when his body has been burned, the small reddish 
residuum is honored as a sacred relic possessing 
marvelous powers, and over it a pagoda must be 
erected." * 

Similarly, the best key to the understanding of 
Christianity is found in the study of the four gospels, 
containing the life, the doings, and the sayings of its 
divine Founder. All that belongs to Jesus and his 
personal teachings can be compassed in few pages ; 
but when we pass to the acts, preachings, and doc- 
trines of his immediate followers, and from them to 
the fathers of the first century, and then to the ever- 
widening list of writers in the following centuries ; 
and, still further, when we compare the Christiani- 
ties of the Levant, Alexandria, Athens, and Rome, 
with that of Galilee, we shall pity the man who is 
called on to condense any intelligible history of Jesus 
and his religion into the compass of a few dozen 
pages. 

Yet this is what is required of the writer of an 

* " Chinese Buddhism," 1880, p. 414. 



Buddhism. 245 

essay on Buddhism. The Buddhism of the present 
day is no more like the Buddhism of Sakya than 
Romanism is like the religion of the peasant of Gali- 
lee. As the writer of ecclesiastical history must de- 
scribe the Eastern Church and the Western, the 
Greek, the Roman, the Anglican, the Protestant, 
with their innumerable subdivisions, so the writer 
upon the religion of Sakya must either content 
himself with the rudest outline-sketching, or go into 
volumes of minute particulars about northern and 
southern Buddhism, Buddhism in India, Buddhism 
in Ceylon, Buddhism in Siam, Nepaul, China, Japan, 
all bearing a family likeness, like the various phases 
of Christianity, yet varying in as many ways, and 
split up into as many sects, a fate which seems in- 
separable from all developments of religious doctrine 
and opinion. 

By the process of inevitable accretion, the snow- 
ball faculty of gathering magnitude as it rolls, Bud- 
dhism has accumulated a legendary history, a tradi- 
tional lore that rivals that of the Jews, w r hose Tal- 
muds bury Moses out of sight, and that of Rome, 
which has heaped mountains of creeds and rituals 
upon the simple words and worship of Jesus Christ. 
R. Spence Hardy's "Manual of Buddhism" is the 
volume to be consulted if one wishes to familiarize 
himself with the endless details of legendary Bud- 
dhism. The stories read like the tales of genii and 



246 Doomed Religions. 

giants in the " Arabian Nights," or the achievements 
and narrations of Baron Munchausen. 

Some knowledge of Hindu ideas in relation to 
space and time, their cosmogony and mythology, are 
necessary preliminaries to a full understanding of the 
religions of India, of which, at the present time, 
Buddhism, though alien from the country which 
gave it birth, and a missionized faith every-where 
else, is chief. 

Infinite space is filled with infinite worlds and sys- 
tems of worlds, the limitless creations of speculation 
and imagination. To a western mind it is at once 
sad and ludicrous to witness the efforts of these Asi- 
atics to express infinity in numbers. The practical 
Chinaman counts from one to ten thousand. All 
beyond is expressed by the single indefinite word, 
endowed with India-rubber power of stretching and 
contraction, " myriad." 

The cycles of Hindu chronology are reckoned by 
the atoms of which the earth is composed, the drops 
of water in the oceans, by a scale rising in numera- 
tion from decades to thousands, millions, and mill- 
iards^ in a table having twenty gradations, whose 
final unit is followed by a modest retinue of one hun- 
dred and forty cyphers ! 

Buddha's divine manifestations in human form 
occur at infinite periods apart. A day of Brahma is 
4,320,000,000 solar years. The world systems are 



Buddhism. 247 

without end, infinite, but to Buddha they are as 
clearly visible as if close at hand, and when he 
preaches " the word " it is in such a manner that the 
beings who are in any of the systems, however re- 
mote, can hear it, and receive instruction. A single 
ray from his sacred person disperses the darkness of 
all worlds, infinite though they be. The space to 
which the light of one sun or moon extends is called 
one system. Each system includes an earth, with its 
continents, islands, and oceans, and a mountain in the 
center of prodigious size, as well as a series of hells 
and heavens, one of the chief of which is situated on 
the summit of the central mountain, whose least 
height is estimated at 800,000 miles, and the greatest 
double that ; a stone falling from summit to base 
would be four and a half months in reaching the 
earth. On the east its color is silver ; on the south, 
sapphire ; on the west, coral ; on the north, gold. 

The seas vary in depth from one inch to 800,000 
miles. Their fish stories, telling of fish from one 
thousand to five thousand miles in size, beat the 
lies of the Talmud, where one Munchausen Kab- 
bin, in a great ship, that went swift as an arrow, 
sailed three days and three nights between the fins 
of one fish.* Astronomy is of the same fanciful 
and extravagant character. There are six spirit 
heavens and twenty Brahma heavens, where a day is 

*Note in Hardy's "Manual of Buddhism." 



248 Doomed Religions. 

a hundred years, and where individual lives are 
measured by millions and thousands of millions of 
years. There are one hundred and ninety-six hells, 
eight of which are the principal places of torment, 
situated in the interior of the earth, flaming and inac- 
cessible, with neither sun, moon, nor light, whose in- 
habitants measure life and suffering by millions on 
millions of years. 

The universe is periodically destroyed and ren- 
ovated. The earth and its central mountain are 
burned up, entirely destroyed, so as to be seen no 
more; at another indefinite period the earth is de- 
stroyed by wind, and at another by water. Whether 
the means of destruction be fire or w T ind or water, it 
is complete. As the world is at first produced by 
the power of the united merit of all the various 
orders of beings in existence, so its destruction is 
caused by the power of their demerit. 

At the end of a day of Brahma the worlds will 
be destroyed, and renovated at the end of each 
succeeding night ; but, at the dissolution of Brahma, 
a complete destruction of the whole universe en- 
sues, all things being utterly annihilated and re- 
duced to entire nothingness, merged in deity till 
Brahma shall awake and a new world is manifest- 
ed. From the " Institute of Manu" we learn that 
" that immutable power, Brahma, by waking and re- 
posing alternately, revivifies and destroys in eternal 



Buddhism. 249 

succession the whole assemblage of locomotive and 
immovable creatures." 

The systems of worlds are homogeneous, and, for 
all, except those who have actually entered the path 
to Nirv&na, there is a perpetual interchange between 
the highest and the lowest. The most degraded 
of demons may one day rule in the highest heavens, 
and he who to-day is seated on the most honorable of 
celestial thrones may writhe in the agonies of hell- 
torment, and the worm that we crush under our feet 
may, in the course of ages, become a supreme Bud- 
dha.* 

Below the supreme Buddha the various orders of 

intelligence are : 1. Inferior Buddhas. 2. Ascetics, 
who have entered the fourth of the paths leading 
to Nirvana, by the extinction in themselves of all 
evil desire. 3. Spirits of the heavens, trees, rocks, 
elements, (analogous to Roman saints,) who exist by 
the myriad, take cognizance of human actions, sym- 
pathize with the right, and punish the injurious. 
4. Inhabitants of the Brahma heavens. 5. Choris- 
ters and musicians of the heavens. 6. Immense 
birds, Hindu harpies. 7. Snakes, or snake-gods. 
8. Demons. 9. Monsters. 10. Beings akin to the 
Titans and Giants of the Greeks. 11. Carrion eaters. 
12. Hungry ghosts. 

Through all these various orders of being each 

♦Hardy, "Manual of Buddhism," p. 37. 



250 . Doomed Religions. 

individual passes successively in metempsychosis or 
transmigration. In Egyptian belief it took one three 
thousand years to make the circuit. An India writer 
describes five hundred and fifty births. In his cir- 
cuit of previous births Buddha lived the life of an 
ascetic eighty -three times ; of a monarch, fifty-eight 
times ; the spirit of a tree, forty-three times ; religious 
teacher, twenty-six times ; and so on, to the tune of 
upward of fifty different life-forms inhabited from 
two to eighty-three times each. He was not only 
man, prince, priest, noble, in turn, but often serpent, 
fish, rat, jackal, crow, thief, pig, dog, gambler, devil- 
dancer, kite, hare, and frog, as well ! 

In the indefinite past, in some one of his numer- 
ous lives, this individual formed the ambitious but 
commendable resolution to become a Buddha, and 
set himself to practice, in all his transmigrations, 
the requisite virtues. In all his transmigrations he 
exercised charity, sacrifice, wisdom, courage, forbear- 
ance, truth, resolution, affection, equanimity. The 
seeker for the Buddhaship enjoys thirteen advan- 
tages — all of which we need not enumerate — such as 
never being born in hell ; never in any kind of ver- 
min form, as louse, ant, bug, worm, or flea; never 
less than snipe as a bird ; never serpent ; never deaf, 
dumb, blind, lame, or leprous ; never as a female ; 
never committing any of the five great sins ; is never 
a skeptic. In the revolution of the ages the time 



Buddhism. 251 

came at last for the human birth of the latest Buddha, 
the author of the religion of at least one third the 
living millions of the globe. 

And here we have little to offer the intelligent and 
truth-seeking western reader but legends, built upon 
the least possible basis of fact. He was the son of a 
king, born 620 to 650 B.C., and belonged to the family 
of Gautamas, (accent on the first syllable,) of the royal 
line, Sakyas or Shakyas, a clan settled on a small 
affluent of the Gogra, or Ghogra, about one hundred 
and thirty-seven miles north of Benares.* The an- 
cestry of Gautama is traced by Buddhist historians 
through various individuals and races, all of royal 
dignity, to the first monarch that ever reigned in the 
world. These partial historians have introduced 
races, and invented names, that they may invest their 
venerated sage with all the honors of heraldry in addi- 
tion to the attributes of divinity, f 

The birth of a Buddha, of course, involved a 
case of "immaculate conception." The womb that 
bears a Buddha is like a casket in which a relic is 
placed ; no other being can be conceived in the same 
receptacle. The queen, his mother, had a forewarn- 
ing dream. The king called sixty-four Brahmans, 
learned in the Vedas, to interpret it. They replied 
that she should bear a son ; if he continued a laic, 
he would be invested with the dignity of universal 

* Barth. f Hardy, i; Manual of Buddhism." 



252 Doomed Religions. 

emperor; if he renounced the world, he would be- 
come supreme Buddha. At the time of conception 
thirty- two great wonders were presented. The 
ten thousand world-systems trembled at once, and 
were all illuminated at once with preternatural light. 
The blind from birth received power to see; the 
deaf heard the joyful noise ; the dumb burst forth in 
songs ; the lame danced ; the crooked became 
straight; those in confinement were released from 
their bonds; the fires of all the hells were extin- 
guished ; the diseases of the sick were cured ; bulls 
and buffaloes roared in triumph ; horses, asses, and el- 
ephants joined in the acclaim ; lions sent forth the 
thunder of their voices ; instruments of music spon- 
taneously uttered sounds; the winds were loaded 
with perfumes ; the flight of birds was arrested, as if 
to look at the infant ; the waves of the sea became 
placid and its waters sweet ; the whole surface of the 
ocean was covered with flowers ; the sky was covered 
with a floral canopy, and flowers were showered from 
the heavens.* All this reminds the Christian reader 
of the prophetic rhapsodies of Isaiah in prospect of 
a similar incarnation; of Virgil's beautiful "Fourth 
Eclogue," Pope's "Messiah," and Charles Wesley's 
well-known condensation and imitation of the same in 
the last stanza of the first hymn of the " Hymnal." 
Of course the child was a prodigy. Like Apollo, Mer- 

* Translated from native books by Hardy. 



Buddhism. 253 

cury, Hercules, and the Moses of the rabbins, he was 
on his feet in a twinkling, and flowers sprang up 
where he trod. He exercised his omniscience in scan- 
ning distant worlds, and spirits and men presented 
worship and offerings. Where all is fiction numbers 
are cheap. The dwellers in ten thousand universes 
shielded him from the torrid sun with umbrellas 
twelve miles high; they sounded his praises with 
conch-shells one hundred and twenty cubits long, the 
blast of which rolls without ceasing four months and 
a half ; others brought harps twelve miles long, and 
deluged him with golden caskets, tiaras, perfumes, 
and red sandal-wood, and no end of gifts. 

" The day of his advent was signalized bj the birth 
of his future wife, his horse, his noble attendant, 
and his chief disciple after he became Buddha ; four 
mines of treasure were produced, four, eight, twelve, 
and sixteen miles in circuit, and thick as the earth, 
w T hich the gratification of all men's desire for riches 
would not have lowered more than one inch ; and 
finally, on the same day, the tree sprouted near which 
he became Buddha. Five days after his birth a great 
festival was appointed to name the new prince, and 
one hundred and eight learned Brahmans were in- 
vited to attend and cast the child's horoscope. Of 
his relatives eighty thousand were present, and he was 
named Siddartha, ' all-prospering.' 

"When Siddartha was five months old there was a 



254 Doomed Religions. 

festival at which the king was accustomed to hold the 
plow. Left alone by his hundred nurses, who could 
not resist the attractions of the gay scene, gold and 
silver flags, banners, fans, vessels, and caskets, the 
divine infant rose in the air and sat at a distance from 
the earth, while the sun so diverted his rays as to 
place the sacred head in shade, and while the aston- 
ished father hastened to place the foot of the infant 
upon his head in token of worship. 

" The prince, deprived of his mother when he was 
seven days old, was provided with a wife at the age of 
sixteen. We need not rehearse the feats of strength 
and prowess by which he evinced his manhood and 
his worthiness of the princess proposed for his ac- 
ceptance. With a lovely wife, attended by forty 
thousand princesses, (dancing women, concubines, 
beauties of the harem,) in the full enjoyment of 
every kind of sensuous delight and pleasure, Prince 
Siddartha, riding one day in his chariot, saw a decrepit 
old man, with broken teeth, gray locks, form bending 
toward the ground, his trembling steps supported by 
a staff as he walked. 

" The prince, to whom age and misery had hitherto 
been a stranger, inquired if the man was born so, and 
if there were many such miserable creatures in the 
world. ' He was once as young as we are, your high- 
ness, and there are many such in the world.' ' If that 
be so,' thought the prince, ' life is not a thing to be 



Buddhism. 255 

desired,' and he turned back to the palace, feeling, 
if all must thus decay, pleasure is not worth possess- 
ing. To prevent him from seeing any more such 
sights his father placed guards on all the roads to the 
distance of eight miles from the city. 

" Four months later, proceeding along the same 
path, he saw a leper, full of sores, with swollen body 
and legs, a disgusting sight, and again returned to the 
palace, agitated and more fully convinced than ever 
that the world is vain and empty. The distressed 
king placed guards in all the roads to the distance of 
twelve miles around the city. 

" After another four months the spirits, whom no 
guards could keep away, placed in the way of the 
prince a dead body, green with putridity, which car- 
ried his disgust and loathing to the highest pitch. It 
was in vain that his anxious father extended his 
guards sixteen miles around the city. The fourth 
apparition was that of a recluse, presenting an ap- 
pearance that indicated perfect inward tranquillity, 
and the prince learned that by ascetic practices the 
ills of life and of successive existence might be 
overcome. 

"At this juncture his first and only son was born, 
sent, apparently, as a temptation to prevent him from 
renouncing the world. Giving a single glance at his 
sleeping wife and the lovely babe on her breast, the 
prince, at midnight, mounted his horse and, attended 



256 Doomed Eeligions. 

by a single noble, fled from the palace and city. 
Gates opened of their own accord ; his cautious 
horse carried him four hundred and eighty miles in a 
single night, and by a brave leap, set his master on 
thfe other side of a river, eight hundred cubits broad, 
and then fell down and died because he was hence- 
forth to be separated from his princely rider. With 
his sword the prince cut off his own hair and threw it 
into the air, where it remained suspended at the height 
of sixteen miles from the earth till the ruler of the 
fourth celestial region deposited it in a heavenly pa- 
goda, where it is worshiped by spirits to this day. 
An attendant brought the right articles needed by a 
recluse, and he put on the monk's robes, fasted seven 
days for joy, and then went four hundred and eighty 
miles afoot to a city, which he entered by the eastern 
gate, and went from house to house in regular order 
bearing the 'alms-bowl,' that betokens the begging 
bonze. 

" When he had received as much food as was suf- 
ficient he retired to a rock, and, under the shade of a 
tree, began to eat the contents of the ' alms-bowl. ' Ac- 
customed as he had always been to the most delicate 
fare, even the sight of what he had now to eat was 
enough to turn his stomach, as he had never seen or 
tasted such food before. 

" Leaving the rock he avoided all associates, and go- 
ing into a forest, he found a place adapted for solitary 



Buddhism. 257 

meditation, and there practiced the austerities it was 
needful to exercise in order to become Buddha. 

" He kept this up for six years, nearly starving him- 
self to death by his protracted fastings. After reduc- 
ing himself so that he was scarcely able to stand, one 
night, after walking and meditating till the third 
watch, he fell senseless to the ground and was sup- 
posed to be dead. He revived, and, to stimulate his 
wasted strength again, had resort to begging and the 
i alms-bowl.' 

" It is impossible to repeat all the supernatural signs 
that appeared on the eve of his reaching the great 
transformation and entering upon the Buddhaship. 
His conflict with Satan, after his protracted fast, is as 
interesting as the battles between angels and devils in 
Milton's ' Paradise Lost.' 

" The head demon was mounted on an elephant a 

thousand miles high ; he had five hundred heads and 

as many flaming tongues, one thousand eyes, and one 

thousand arms, each of which wielded a weapon, and 

no two weapons alike. His army extended on every 

side one hundred and sixty-four miles, and his navies 

put on all sorts of frightful appearances, lions, tigers, 

panthers, bears, boars, buffaloes, bulls, hydras, and 

dragons. There are eight pages of description of the 

various onsets and varied defeats. Bain-drops, the 

size of palm-trees, that plowed up the earth, fell upon 

Siddartha as a shower of water-lilies; a hundred 
17 



258 Doomed Eeligions. 

thousand burning mountains, hurled at him through 
the air, were converted into garlands of sweet flowers ; 
a shower of fiery ashes became an offering of fragrant 
sandal-wood powder. Wind, rain, rocks, weapons, 
charcoal, ashes, sand, mud, darkness, did no harm what- 
ever to Siddartha, but were converted into offerings. 

" After overcoming the evil one he received om- 
niscient knowledge, divine eyes, power to investigate 
causes from their end to their source, and from source 
to end. 

" At the dawn of the next day, every remain of evil 
desire being destroyed and all the ' roots of bitterness 5 
taken away, he attained the desired perfection, and 
chanted, 

" 'To Nirvana my mind and feelings aspire, 
I have reached the extinction of evil desire.' 

"At that supreme moment 

" ' So glad the world was, though it wist not why, 
That, over desolate wastes, went swooning songs 
Of mirth— 

. . . the spirits of the air 
Cried, " It is finished — finished," — and the priests 
Stood with the wondering people in the streets, 
Watching those golden splendors flood the sky, 
And saying, " There hath happed some mighty thing. 
Also in ran and jungle grew that day 
Friendship among the creatures ; spotted deer 
Browsed fearless where the tigress fed her cubs, 
And cheetahs lapped the pool beside the bucks; 
Under the eagle's rock the brown hares scoured, 
While his fierce beak but preened an idle wing ; 
The snake sunned all his jewels in the beam 
With deadly fangs in sheath : the shrike let pass 



Buddhism. 259 

The nestling finch : the emerald halcyons 
Sate dreaming while the fishes played beneath, 
Nor hawked the merops, though the butterflies, 
Crimson and blue and amber, flitted thick 
Around his perch. Lord Buddha's spirit 
Lay potent upon man and bird and beast 
Even while he mused under that sacred tree/ * 

" Then lie reflected, ' I am Buddha ; all evil desire 
is destroyed ; I am god of three worlds ; I shall re- 
main Buddha for forty-five years. I shall have thou- 
sands of followers ; the religion that I shall establish 
will continue five thousand years. 5 

" At the end of sixty days, in the eighth week after 
he became Buddha, Gautama journeyed alone a dis- 
tance of two hundred and eighty-eight miles. In the 
course of the journey he was seen by a mendicant, 
who, attracted by his gravity and his beautifully 
shining body, asked if he were one of the rulers of 
the celestial world. Gautama replied, ' I am not the 
ruler of any special celestial world, but I am the su- 
preme Buddha. I know the manner in which the 
repetition of existence is to be overcome ; all that is 
proper to renounce I have put from me as far as heav- 
en is from the earth : all that is proper for me to ac- 
quire I have in my possession, as if it were a portion 
of ambrosia ; all the beings in the world are my servi- 
tors ; Brahma offers flowers to the cloth that cleans my 
feet ; I am the conqueror of Mara ; I am above all.' f 

* " Light of Asia." f Hardy, "Manual of Buddhism," p. 184. 



260 Doomed Religions. 

"The mendicant thus addressed subsequently be- 
came a disciple, practiced the discipline, and went 
to heaven. 

" On the evening of the day in which he first spoke 
to this beggar Gautama arrived at the place where 
his predecessors had done their first preaching, and 
here, ascending a throne that rose miraculously out 
of the cloven earth, the supreme Buddha ' preached 
the word' with astonishing surroundings. The 
evening [personified] was like a lovely female ; the 
stars were pearls upon her neck ; the blue clouds 
were her braided hair ; the expanse was her flowing 
robe. 

" As a crown she had the Brahman heavens ; the 
three worlds were as her body ; her eyes were like 
the white lotus ; her voice was like the humming of 
the bee. To worship Buddha and listen to the first 
proclamation of the word this lovely female came. 
The central mountain of the earth, Meru, leaped for 
joy ; the seven circles of rocks did obeisance to 
Buddha ; the various beings of the world all assem- 
bled, that they might receive the nectar and ambrosia 
of Nirvana. They stood in circles, the room they occu- 
pied being more and more compressed as each addi- 
tional company arrived, until at last they were so 
close that a hundred thousand celestial spirits had no 
more space than the point of a needle. The heavens 
were left empty. Though all space was thus filled, 



Buddhism. 261 

there was no impediment whatever to the spreading 
of the rajs from the person of Buddha. The sound 
was like that of a storm, but when the spirit rulers 
blew their conch shells all became as still as the 
waveless sea. Then Buddha opened his mouth and 
preached the word. ' There are two things/ said 
he, c that must be avoided by him who seeks to be- 
come a priest — evil desire and the bodily austerities 
practiced by the Brahman ascetics.' " * 

I have copied this long extract entire for the sake 
of contrasting it with the description of the way an- 
other celebrated world- reformer opened his preaching 
mission : " And seeing the multitudes, he went up 
into a mountain : and when he was set, his disciples 
came unto him : and he opened his mouth, and taught 
them, saying." 

A single verse, noting four historical surroundings, 
expressed in the briefest manner possible, introduces 
these wonderful chapters, over a hundred verses of 
the most glorious moralities ever preached to man. 
The Buddhist writer reverses the process ; a flourish 
of imagination, rhetoric, and glowing description 
prefaces three lines about two things a neophyte 
must avoid if he aspires to the Buddhist priesthood. 
It is no wonder that Barth called the Buddhist style 
the worst in the world. The disciples of Confucius, 
also, like the disciples of Christ, were more intent 

* "Manual of Buddhism," pp. 186, 187. 



262 Doomed Keligions. 

upon recording his words than on describing his 
achievements, and every new chapter opens with the 
simple formula, " The Master said." 

From the moment of his conversion and first 
preaching the legends give us to understand that the 
converts of Buddha multiplied rapidly. His mira- 
cles were of the most trifling character. One of the 
most common was that effected by modern Hindu 
magicians and their spiritualistic dupes and imita- 
tors in this country, levitation, rising in the air, and 
traversing space by spirit force without steam or 
balloon. 

The Ceylon legends, put into English by the la- 
mented Hardy, (for a brief account of whom see 
Simpson's " Cyclopedia of Methodism,") cover the 
forty-five years of his ministry, and describe his 
death and cremation at the age of eighty. 

Fifty-four princes and one thousand fire worship- 
ers speedily became converts ; kings became con- 
verts ; Brahmans became converts ; his father, his 
wife, his son, a child of seven years, became con- 
verts; and he soon had a retinue of twenty thou- 
sand priests. 

It is written, but it is in nowise probable, that 
Gautama visited the island of Ceylon in the ninth 
month after he received the Buddhaship. A second 
visit was made in the fifth and a third in the eighth 
year, and each was attended with prodigies to account 



Buddhism. 263 

for the prevalence and spread of his doctrines in that 
island. The accounts are grossly legendary. 

We get a possible glimpse of his manner of 
preaching from a fragment of a discourse to a Brah- 
man, who advised him to quit the life of a mendicant, 
and plow and sow for a living. 

" Brahman," said Buddha, " I do plow and sow, and 
from my plowing and sowing I reap immortal fruit. 
The field I plow is the Truth ; the weeds I pluck up 
are human cleavings to existence ; the plow I use is 
wisdom ; the seed I sow is purity ; the work I per- 
form is attention to the precepts ; the harvest I reap 
is Nirvana." 

To another he said : 

" He who is free from evil desire attains the high- 
est estate, and is always in prosperity. He who cuts 
off demerit, who subdues the mind, and attains to a 
state of perfect equanimity, secures Nirvana ; this is 
his prosperity." 

From one of his numerous monasteries a newly-con- 
verted priest, about to go and preach to his own 
countrymen, requested advice from his teacher. 

" The people you are going to preach to are ex- 
ceedingly violent ; if they oppress and revile you, 
what will you do ? " 

" I will make no reply." 

"If they strike?" 

" I will not strike in return." 



264 Doomed Religions. 

" If they try to take your life ? " 

" Some are tired of life, and seek to have it taken 
away ; but this course I shall avoid." 

" It is well," said the master. 

At the age of eighty, about 840 B. 0., Gautama 
died, entered into Nirvana, in the midst of his disci- 
ples, leaving, according to the Ceylon chroniclers, 
special directions as to that island. His omniscience 
does not seem to have cast its prescient gaze over the 
immense empire to the east, China, where his relig- 
ion was to have a wider spread and greater influence 
than in a thousand Ceylons. 

Hardy gives fifty-four different orthographies of 
the official name of this w r onderful personage, called 
also Gautama, Siddartha, and Sakya, or Shakya Muni, 
or the monk Shakya. He says also, that the epithet 
Omito, (O-me-taw,) used by the Chinese, is probably 
a corruption of " amista," a word which signifies 
deathless, and is used to designate Nirvana. 

The ontology of Buddhism is as grotesque and ex- 
travagant a melange as its cosmogony, but quite equal 
to the various systems of metaphysics proposed by 
the sages and philosophers of more civilized races. 
We have no space here to discuss it. Its ethics are 
of more consequence. It recognizes three sins of the 
body — murder, theft, adultery ; four sins of speech — 
lying, slander, abuse, unprofitable conversation ; three 
sins of the mind — covetousness. malice, skepticism. 



Buddhism. 265 

Five evils are to be avoided — intoxication, gam- 
bling, idleness, improper associations, sinful amuse- 
ments. The general precepts of the system are al- 
most limitless. The ten obligations of the priest are 
the most celebrated. They are — taking life, taking 
property, fornication, lying, intoxication, gluttony, 
sinful amusements, sinful ornaments, using luxurious 
couches, receiving gold or silver. 

It is doubtful if the master formulated all these 
matters in express terms. Many of these were Brah- 
manical ideas, which he found in existence, and in 
which he was reared. Much more has been added 
by the differing schools of his followers. 

Like Christ and Wesley, Gautama evidently 
thought more of practical life than of traditions 
and formulated doctrines. These were grafted upon 
his simple teachings at a later period. 

Barth * looks at Buddhism as one of the earliest 
offshoots from Brahmanism. We condense his con- 
clusions. As regards the form, the instructions of 
the master may be considered as lost. There are 
sparks in the monkish literature, but never flame. It 
was not by strange harangues, like those recorded by 
the legendaries, that the " lion of the Sakyas " car- 
ried captive men's souls. The basis of his teachings 
has, doubtless, held out better than the forms. 

The two characteristics which strike us at once in 

* "Religions of India." 



266 Doomed Beligions. 

primitive Buddhism, and which certainly belong to 
the teachings of the master, are the absence of every 
theological element and a conspicuous aversion to 
pure speculation. 

By embracing the life of an anchorite, Gautama 
naturally broke all connection with the practice of 
the religious observances of the Yedas. His work is 
that of a layman ; his metaphysics are negative ; his 
doctrine is atheistic. It is expounded in the four 
noble truths : 1, The existence of power to exist is 
to suffer. 2. The cause of pain is found in desire 
which increases with gratification. 3. The cessation 
of pain is possible by the suppression of desire. 
4. The way which tends to this suppression is by the 
knowledge and observance of the good, and with the 
practice of Buddhistic discipline and its admirable 
morality. The end is Nirvana, extinction, cessation 
of existence. 

The conditions of existence is summed up in twelve 
successive causes : 1. Ignorance. 2. Action. 3. Con- 
sciousness. 4. Individuality. 5. Sensibility. 6. The 
senses. 7. Sensation. 8. Desire. 9. Clinging to ex- 
istence. 10. Existence. 11. Birth. 12. Old age and 
death. 

The human being who undergoes existence is 
viewed as composite, the result of aggregates, live in 
number, with a hundred and ninety-three subdivis- 
ions, which exhaust all the elements, all the material, 



Buddhism. 2G7 

intellectual, and moral properties and attributes of 
the individual. Apart from these there exists noth- 
ing, either fixed principle, or rule, or permanent sub- 
stance of any kind. The elements dissolve and dissi- 
pate at death. The individual, a compound of com- 
pounds, entirely perishes. 

The influence of its acts alone survives, and 
through this a new group of elements is immediately 
effected, a new individual rises into existence in some 
other part of the world, and perpetuates the first 
The Buddhist, strictly speaking, does not revive, but 
another revives in his stead, and it is to avert from 
this successor the pains of existence that he aspires 
to the Nirvana. 

"This is the doctrine of the Pali books. The 
Sanskrit books of the north seem to imply a per- 
manent ego passing from one existence to another. 
If there is a single conclusion that asserts itself as 
having been that of the Buddhism of all ages, which 
follows from all it insists on and from all that it 
ignores, it is that the 'way' conducts to total ex- 
tinction, and that perfection consists in ceasing to 
exist." * 

Buddhism, doctrinally, is the confession of the 

absolute vanity of all things, and, as regards the 

individual, an aspiration after non-existence. Every 

thing in the form of being is a flux of aggregates, 

* Barth, p. 113. 



268 Doomed Keligions. 

an immense flood, from which we can escape only by 
Nirvana. In the hands of the metaphysical followers of 
the great Teacher, Buddhism resolves itself into pure 
nihilism. It became, w T hat the Brahmans reproached 
it with being, u the system of the void." 

Two centuries and a half after the death of its 
founder, Buddhism became the official religion of 
Ashoka, the most powerful monarch of India, whose 
dominions extended from the valley of Cabul to the 
mouths of the Ganges. At this time its missionaries 
had penetrated into the Mahratta and Dravidian coun- 
tries and taken root in Ceylon. 

In addition to its doctrines and precepts, Buddhism 
had its novel institutions and its spirit of discipline 
and propagandism, a new art of winning and direct- 
ing souls. In the opinion of Barth, we cannot as- 
cribe too much in the conquests of Buddhism to the 
personal character of its founder. 

" Brahmanism, a system entirely impersonal, has 
nothing to oppose to the life of Buddha. The legend- 
ary narratives of the sage, drawn up in frightful 
Buddhist style, the most intolerable of all styles, 
form, nevertheless, one of the most affecting histories 
which humanity has ever conceived. It is these that 
have gained more souls for Buddhism than its the- 
ories about existence and Nirvana. Men worshiped 
that finished model of calm and sweet majesty, of 
infinite tenderness for all that breathes, and compas- 



Buddhism. 269 

sion for all that suffers, of perfect moral freedom 
and exemption from every prejudice." * 

It was to save others that he who was one day to 
be Gautama disdained to tread sooner in the way of 
Nirvana, and that he chose to become Buddha at the 
cost of a countless number of supplementary exist- 
ences. This act of his is called the " Great Resolu- 
tion," the " Great Renunciation," beautifully pictured 
in attractive literary form within the last three years 
in Edwin Arnold's " Light of Asia," a reproduction, 
in lovely verse, of legendary Buddhism, adorned with 
all the accessories of tropical imagery, and descrip- 
tive of the natural scenery in the midst of which Bud- 
dhism was cradled. To imitate the master was for 
the disciples to carry on his work ; it was like liv- 
ing to propagate the good doctrine. Buddhism was, 
then, a religion to be propagated, the first on record 
in human history. Besides its legends and biogra- 
phies, it employed preaching and a popular tract 
literature, collections of parables, semi-religious, 
semi-profane stories about the earlier existences of 
Buddha during his five hundred and fifty births. 

Wherever it entered it adopted the idiom of the 
country. It came at length to possess sacred lan- 
guage in their Sanskrit and Pali, but its canonical 
books were translated and expounded to the public 
in their vernacular, very different from the Yeda of 

* Bartb, p. 118. 



270 Doomed Religions. 

the Brahmans, whose form is as sacred as the sub- 
stance, and which also translated, or even committed 
to writing, is Veda no longer.* 

Of Buddhist creation are also the distinction be- 
tween orthodoxy and heresy, instruction in correct 
opinion, the direction of consciences, the pastoral art, 
profession of faith, and the confession of priests to 
the master himself. We condense here Barth's fine 
contrast between Buddhist and Brahman, expressed 
in finer form and language than any at our com- 
mand: 

"The Buddhist religious, the mendicant, is not, 
like the Brahman, a worker of miracles, a mediator 
between man and the Deity ; he is first a penitent, 
then a scribe, a preacher, a director of conscience, a 
teacher of the faith, and, when occasion serves, a first- 
rate missionary. 

" Humble by profession, professing nothing, with- 
out family, without interests other than those of his or- 
der, he goes, like a Romish Jesuit, wherever his supe-* 
riors send him. He has taken the vow of poverty, and 
lives on alms ; but the order is rich, and the origin of 
its wealth is ancient. Some of the donations to it 
were made as far back as the life-time of Buddha. 
Gifts to Brahmans are always made to the individual. 
Buddhist foundations remain undivided, and inure 
to the common advantage. As wealth increased 

* Barth, p. 120. 



Buddhism. 271 

Buddhism grew more and more sumptuous. Ifc 
needed immense monasteries to shelter its legions 
of monks ; commemorative monuments to mark the 
spots which the master and his disciples had rendered 
sacred by their presence ; edifices, richly decorated, in 
which to deposit their relics, and chapels in which 
to erect their images. The worship was simple. It 
consisted in the repetition of a sort of office, acts of 
faith and homage, offerings of flowers, keeping lamps 
and incense burning before the image of Buddha ; 
but the style was grand. 

" These mendicants were the first builders in India. 
The most ancient and stupendous ruins we meet with 
every- where are of piles erected by their hands. The 
under-ground temples, the monasteries excavated in 
the rock, are their workmanship, and we find their 
mark in almost all the great sanctuaries of Hinduism 
itself. Brahmanism has kept to its primitive tools, 
its pent-houses of bamboo, its turf-clods and grass 
blades, and its vessels of wood, the most bald and 
materialistic of all cultuses." * 

Into another topic we cannot follow the philo- 
sophic author, his idea that Buddhism owed its suc- 
cess as much to favoring political and social circum- 
stances as to its own inherent aptitudes. He has a 
novel reason for its absence from the land of its birth. 
The usual theory is that it was persecuted out of 

* Barth, pp. 127-129. 



272 Doomed Religions. 

India by the Brahmans. There are no historical evi- 
dences of any such persecution, and the effect of per- 
secution is rather to stimulate the growth of a relig- 
ion than to destroy it altogether. 

There are, it is true, several instances in the history 
of Europe in which Romanism slaughtered Protest- 
antism, and drove it completely out of given terri- 
tories, but there is no appearance of any such tri- 
umph over Buddhism on the part of Brahmanism. 
The theory of this author is that Buddhism died in 
India of senility and inanition, and that after its 
death Brahmanism appropriated its effects, while it 
imbibed much of its spirit and imitated many of its 
methods. 

Neo-Brahmanism superseded Buddhism, and is 
now the dominant religion of the great peninsula. 
Buddhism was smitten with premature decrepitude. 
Excepting some admirable stanzas, and some legends 
of striking beauty, all it has left us bears the stamp 
of senility. 

Around the outskirts of India Buddhism still 
flourishes — in Ceylon, in Siam, in Burmah, in the 
Lamaism of Thibet, where the Buddha is perpetuated 
in a succession of living lamas, popes, who exist from 
age to age. 

But it is in China that Buddhism has won its 
greatest and most lasting triumphs as a popular 
faith, a religion for the masses, and to this field we 



Buddhism. 273 

turn. And here the text-book is by another eminent 
author.* 

All writers are agreed that it was not until 
A. D. 64, when Buddhism was six hundred years 
old, that it entered China. Chinese Buddhists place 
the life of the founder 1000 B. C. The accepted 
date is 1027 B. C. 

What the Ceylon writers put into legendary 
form, adorned with all the accessories of scenery 
and miracle, the practical Chinese present as prosaic 
facts. 

At fifteen, Siddartha was invested with the rank of 
heir apparent ; at seventeen, married ; at eighteen, sees 
old age at the east gate of the city, sickness at the 
south gate, death at the west, the begging monk at 
the north, and from this time longed for ascetic life, 
upon which he entered at twenty-eight, living, in 
solitary places in the Himalaya mountains, on hemp 
and barley, and assuaging his thirst with snow till, at 
thirty to thirty -five, he became acquainted with the 
true way, and lived afterward to eighty, preaching 
thirty-five, special discourses. Hermit life was the 
fashion in India before it was adopted by Gautama. 

Thirty-five days after arriving at perfect wisdom 
Buddha opened his public life at Benares by dis- 
coursing on the four great truths. The hair-splitting 
Hindus talked of eighty-one states of misery, eighty- 

* Edkins, " Religion in China." 
18 



274 Doomed Religions. 

eight varieties of deception, and thirty-seven modes 
of reformation. 

After Confucius came the Three Precious Ones — 
Buddha, The Truth, the Assembly of Believers, or 
Church. The monastery followed, necessary for the 
residences of the voluntary cenobites, who daily grew 
in numbers, and effected the greatest social revolution 
that ever took place in India. 

The neophytes soon became missionaries, traveling 
every- where with the " alms-bowl," with shaven heads, 
peculiar dress, and preaching the doctrine of equality, 
the nothingness of human affairs, man every thing 
and God nothing, in opposition to the Brahma, with 
whom God was every thing and man nothing. 

Thirty-three patriarchs succeed Buddha, the twen- 
ty-eighth of whom enters China. A patriarch has 
magical powers ; he can fly through the air ; he has 
the keenest intellectual perception ; he is the de- 
fender of Buddhism against heresies ; he lives poorly 
and meanly clad. At the fifth Chinese patriarch the 
succession was broken, and has never been restored. 

The fifteenth patriarch worsted all comers on the 
three propositions — Buddha is the most excellent of 
sages ; no law can compare with the law of Buddha ; 
there is no happiness or merit on earth equal to that 
of the Buddhist monks — and was pierced through 
with a sword for his pains. The nineteenth said the 
inequality of men's condition in the present life is 



Buddhism. 275 

mainly on account of sins and virtuous acts in a for- 
mer life. The happiness and miseries are the recom- 
pense of the virtues and vices of the past. The vir- 
tues and vices of the present will be rewarded in the 
future life. 

In A. D. 61 the Chinese emperor, Ming-ti, in 
consequence of a dream, sent messengers to India to 
ask for Buddhist books and teachers. Eighteen were 
sent. They arrived in state A. D. 37, and imme- % 
diately interviewed the emperor. The name India 
now occurs for the first time in the divine annals. 
Early in the fourth century native Chinese began to 
take Buddhist monastic vows, and for the first time 
the people of the country were allowed to become 
professed disciples of Buddha. 

" Large monasteries began to be established in 
North China, and nine tenths of the people," says a 
native historian, "followed the faith of the great 
Indian sage." 

The year 405, when a native king gave a high 
office to an Indian Buddhist, is an important epoch 
in the history of Chinese Buddhist literature. The 
Indian officer was commanded by the emperor to 
translate the various books of India, Meanwhile a 
Chinese traveler was exploring India, collecting 
Buddhist books. 

The earnestness and vigor of the Chinese Bud- 
dhists of that period are shown in the repeated 



276 Doomed Religions. 

journeys they made along the tedious and dangerous 
route by Central Asia to India. Relics of Buddha 
were widely spread, and numberless pagodas were 
erected. The treasures of the religion, its glorious 
trinity — Buddha, The Law, the Priesthood — were 
widely diffused. 

At the beginning of the sixth century there were 
three thousand Indians in China propagating their 
religion, and temples had multiplied to thirteen 
thousand. 

"It was reserved for the fantastic genius of India," 
says Edkins, "to construct a religion out of three 
rudiments — atheism, annihilation, and the non-re- 
ality of the natural world — and, by the encourage- 
ment of mysticism and monastic life, to make these 
most ultimate of negations palatable and popular. 
The addition of a popular mythology was another 
powerful agent in spreading Buddhism through so 
great a mass of mankind." 

About 460 five Buddhists from Ceylon arrived in 
China by the Thibetan route. They brought images. 
At that time there were in China two million priests 
and thirty thousand temples — an account, doubtless, 
exaggerated. The Buddhist books were said to be 
ten times more numerous than the Confucian 
classics. 

The tables of initials and finals found in the native 
Chinese dictionaries were first formed in the third 



Buddhism. 277 

century, and more fully developed in the sixth. It 
seems a pity that they did not carry the process of 
sound analysis further, and give the Chinese an al- 
phabet. To the Hindus is, doubtless, due the credit 
of noticing and numbering the tones of the Chinese 
dialects. 

The Buddhists had to endure persecutions. Early 
in the eighth century the Confucianists got an edict 
passed to the effect that Buddhism was pernicious to 
the state, and securing the retirement of twelve thou- 
sand priests and nuns from the monasteries, together 
with forbiddal to cast images, build temples, and write 
sacred books. 

In 845 a third persecution destroyed four thousand 
six hundred monasteries and forty thousand smaller 
edifices. More than two hundred and sixty thousand 
priests and nuns were compelled to retire to mundane 
employments. A memorial was presented to the suc- 
ceeding emperor, complaining that the support of 
Buddhist monks was an intolerable burden upon the 
people. 

The metaphysics and precepts of Buddhism, as de- 
scribed by Edkins, are not more attractive or instruct- 
ive to a rational mind than as described by Hardy. 
The morality of Buddhism is highly praised by Max 
Miiller: "One of the most perfect moral codes the 
world has ever known." " Precepts older and not less 
noble than the precepts of Christianity." "Love 



278 Doomed Religions. 

and universal charity declared to be the mother of all 
virtues, and even the peculiarly Christian virtues, for- 
giveness of injuries and meek acceptance of insult, 
were already taught in the farthest East." The 
Burmese are credited with living up to the teaching 
of their religion better than the Chinese. 

All the force of moral teaching is in Confucian- 
ism, and not in Buddhism. The Buddhist's moral 
code is feebleness itself compared with Confucianism. 
The Hindu mind cannot dominate the Chinese mind, 
and the contemplative life has few attractions for 
the countrymen of Confucius. 

One of the most suggestive chapters in Edkins's 
work is the one describing the Buddhist calendar. It 
is a key to w T hat, to foreigners residing in their cities, 
seems an endless succession of festivals, accompanied 
by the beating of gongs, the crackling of fire-works, 
the sounds of weird music, processions, and gaudy 
display. It is analogous to the Christian year ob- 
served by Romanists and Ritualists, a cumbrous 
round of fasts and feasts ; not as in Christian coun- 
tries superimposed to prove the observance, among 
the latter, of a regularly recurring weekly Sabbath, 
about which the heathen know nothing. 

To give an extended review of Edkins's books 
would be to repeat in substance much of that which 
we have quoted with so much fullness in the former 
part of this article from Hardy. Images and image 



Buddhism. 279 

worship were an after-thought with both Brahmanic 
and Buddhistic worship. Relics of Buddha, the ashes 
left after his cremation, his bones, his hairs, places 
where he taught and where he left the imprint of his 
sacred foot, were all objects of worship from very 
early times. Temples embody the most striking feat- 
ures of Chinese architecture, and abound in every 
landscape. The most imposing extant figures are the 
gigantic trinity, Buddhas of the past, present, and 
future, or Buddha attended right and left by two of 
his favorite disciples. The great trinity, the three 
triunes, the Three Precious Ones, are Buddha, the Law, 
and the Priesthood, brotherhood, monkhood, Church. 
In their degeneracy, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Confu- 
cianism, and Taoism all are idolatrous. Ontological, 
metaphysical, spiritual, moral systems have eventu- 
ated in bad systems of material idolatry ; and China 
and India are covered with temples and idols which 
the devotees of each of the great religious systems 
worship, and the central figure is the originator of 
the system itself. 

In a temple in North China Edkins was shown a 
tooth of Buddha two and a half inches thick and ten 
by thirteen in width. The writer has seen its fellow 
in the keeping of the monks of the Koo Shan — Drum 
Mountain — monastery at Foochow, which is evidently 
the grinder of an adult elephant. The Chinese are 
fond of materialism. As Sakya Muni taught Bud- 



280 Doomed Religions. 

dhism, it was an ascetic morality. His followers gave 
it a decidedly metaphysical cast. Tlie materialistic 
phase followed, with magic, astrology, geomancy, and 
idolatry. 

Dr. Edkins corrects the statement that he made 
years ago, namely, that the Taoists have no hell, but 
only heaven ; that and many other ideas they borrowed 
from the Buddhists. Legge says purgatory and hell 
have come to Taoism from Buddhism as evidently as 
the trinity of idols in its temples. The Three Pure 
Ones have been copied from the Buddhistic Three 
Precious Ones. Pictures of the punishments inflict- 
ed on the damned are called by foreigners "The 
Chamber of Horrors." The writer has a tract which 
pictures these Buddhist and Taoist hells, in which 
the lost are tossed by devils with pitchforks into the 
craters of burning volcanoes, bound by devils to hollow 
pillars of brass, while fire is kindled inside ; thrown 
naked upon floors of ice, or precipitated on beds of 
spikes; mutilated in all conceivable forms, sawn 
asunder, thrown to wild beasts, subjected to all styles 
of degrading transmigration into animals, birds, insects, 
and vermin ; pitched into pools of blood, condemned 
to cross bridges so narrow that they are sure to fall 
off to become prey to serpents and scorpions ; with 
many other styles of torment too tedious to relate 
and too barbarous to mention. 

Legge says modern Taoism was begotten by Bud- 



Buddhism. 281 

dhism out of the old Chinese superstitions. Its forms 
are those of Buddhism, its voice and spirit are fanat- 
ically base and cruel, 

Martin says Buddhists are a strange paradox — relig- 
ious atheists. Their daily prayers are endless repe- 
titions, designed merely to exert a reflex influence on 
the worshiper. Those in whom discipline is complete 
have entered Nirvana, not an elysium of conscious 
enjoyment, but a negative state of exemption from 
pain. 

In China, " Nirvana " was found to be too subtle 
an idea for popular contemplation, and so they brought 
forward the Goddess of Mercy, (the Chinese Virgin 
Mary,) whose highest merit was, like that of Buddha, 
in his former lives, that having reached the verge 
of Nirvana she declined to enter, preferring to hear 
the cries and succor the calamities of the human 
family. 

The three religions, the ethical in Confucianism, 
the physical in Taoism, and the, metaphysical in 
Buddhism, live together, cheek by jowl, in China, in 
such a state of interfusion that it is hardly possible to 
separate them ; the people, even the literati being, as 
occasion serves, Confucianist, Buddhist, or Taoist, in 
turn. 

Edkins thinks the great battle of Christianity in 
China will be with the Confucianists. The struggle 
must necessarily be a fearful one, and protracted. In 



282 Doomed Religions. 

India the fight is with modern Hinduism, compli- 
cated by multiplicity of states and dialects. 

According to Edwin Arnold there are in the 
world three hundred and seventy million Buddhists, 
with a morality, and theoretical purity of life and 
conduct, equal to that of Christianity; but what 
an indulgent philosophy ! If a man looks out from 
himself, he is man; if he looks inward, in divine 
contemplation, he is Buddha. What a mass of met- 
aphysics! "What a mass of moralities, labeled and 
marked ! What singular ideas of the value of merit and 
demerit ! the one, even so simple a matter as a good 
wish, affecting all a man's future life in his various 
transmigrations ; an evil act, or act of demerit con- 
demning to hells without number. How singular that 
persons so harmless, so careful of hurting feelings, so 
averse to inflicting misery on any creature in this life, 
should have hells filled with such infinite variety of 
torments in the world to come! In conversation 
with Buddhist priests — the most harmless men one 
can get acquainted with — we have often had them 
tell us : " We have read your books ; Jesus was a 
good man, just like Buddha ; our religion is just like 
yours." 

It is only during this century, and especially the 
latter half of it, that works like that of Hardy and 
scores of others in the same field, have made even 
Christian missionaries aware of the enormous labor in 



Buddhism. 283 

prospect, not only in overturning the material idolatry 
of the millions of India and China, but in eradica- 
ting the false philosophy and the deep-seated super- 
stitions of these besotted races. 

Back of all this is the question whether those races 
have the brain-power, a sufficient degree of emer- 
gency from the boyhood state of humanity, to free 
themselves from the dominance of the imagination 
and child-fears of evil, terrors in the presence of 
darkness, demons, and terrifying natural phenomena. 

Buddhism was propagated in China by missionaries 
and books. But with what vigor ? All the Protestant 
missionaries of all the wealthy missionary societies 
of the richest nations in the world maintain four 
hundred missionaries in China in a population of 
four hundred millions ; while India, centuries ago, 
sent three thousand missionaries into the field to 
preach Buddhism. 

In one of my missionary commonplace books I 
have the name of a hundred temples dedicated to 
sixty-five divinities in and around Foochow. Two 
of them I know to be Taoist ; one, if not two, of them 
is Confucianist. I judge that the rest, five sixths, if 
not nine tenths, of the whole, are Buddhist. There 
are shrines to the Pearly Emperor, the Shang-Ti of the 
Sombre Heavens, the five Night Spirit rulers, the 
Goddess of Mercy, the God of Learning, the Queen- 
mother of Heaven, the sailor's god, the dragon god, 



284 Doomed Keligions. 

the wind god, the five mountains god, " gods many 
and lords many." 

Half the difficulty of a grand undertaking is accom- 
plished when we know what we have to contend 
with. The investigations of the last half century 
into the eastern " mystery of iniquity " have given us 
some idea of the length, breadth, depth, and height of 
that iniquity. Like the legendary demon, Mara, it is 
of protean shape, mountain size, frightful and por- 
tentous; but faith, prayer, and sacrifice vanquish 
devils and overturn mountains. 



Taoism. 285 



TAOISM.* 



BY REV. VIEGIL C. HART, B.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OP THE CENTRAL CHINA MISSION OP THE METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

TAOISM is a religion of China, deriving its name, 
either from its supposed founder, Tao-Chwen, 
commonly called Lao-Tsz, or the character Tao, I jg J 
which means a way, a method, a doctrine, or, as used 
by the Taoists, the Logos, the unknown factor of 
nature, the Eternal Way, to which their speculations 
were in the main directed. Our definition must be 
general enough to include the beliefs or speculations 
of the sages 2600 B.C., the arts and tricks of astrol- 
ogers, alchemists, and sorcerers, known in the ancient 
history of China as Tao-Sz, doctors of Tao, and that 
system of philosophy found in the Tao-Tah-Kin — a 
supposed production of the great philosopher Lao- 
Tsz, in the sixth century before Christ, as well, the 
speculations of several disciples of Lao-Tsz, and the 
idolatrous worship of one of the three great religions 
of China. Whatever beliefs the Chinese may have 

* This religion has spread greatly in China, Japan, Cochin China, 
Tonquin, and among the Indo-Chinese nations. It is especially pop- 
ular with the common people, and in some places rivals Buddhism 
itself in numbers and influence. — J. M. R. 



286 Doomed Religions. 

had of a Divine Being, Spirits, Heaven, Hades, Im- 
mortality, Sacrifices, etc., previous to the introduc- 
tion of Buddhism in the first century of the Christian 
era, were more or less filtered through this system 
which we called Taoism. 

Origin. — Its origin is as obscure as its doctrines 
are mystical. From all I can gather, Lao-Tsz, the 
ascetic of Ku, stands related to its fundamental beliefs 
nearly or quite the same as Confucius does to the 
political and moral ethics of his country, which he 
merely crystallized, and passed on to future genera- 
tions in a more permanent form. Lao-Tsz himself in 
the sixty-fifth chapter of the Tao-Tah-Kin says, " Why 
did the ancients so much value this Tao? "Was it 
not because it was obtained without long seeking, 
and those who had sinned might (by it) be pardoned ? 
Therefore it is the most precious thing in the world. 
The good men of old, the practicers of Tao, did not 
use it to brighten the people " (in sinful knowledge.) 
A writer by the name of Yang-Kwei-San says, " Lao- 
Tsz was not an originator, but a compiler ; he believed 
in and was fond of antiquity." The philosopher 
Chu bears similar testimony, " There were therefore 
those books, and Lao-Tsz was a transmitter and not 
an originator." Taoist writers speak of books, which 
were extant at his time, coming down from the Yel- 
low Emperor, B.C. 2697. The high-priests of Lung 
Hu trace their pedigree back to that emperor. It is 



Taoism. 287 

not unreasonable to suppose the texts upon which 
Lao-Tsz discoursed were intermixed with other re- 
ligious notions before his time, and were handed 
down, as were the ethics of Confucius. There were 
fragments of philosophical works like the Yi, the 
offspring of speculative minds grasping after the 
unknowable in nature. It would be highly interest- 
ing to know through what avenues the germ ideas of 
Taoism were conveyed to the great Lao-Tsz. It 
would be equally interesting to know to what extent 
the religious thought of China was affected from 
without. Did the sages and astrologers of China 
obtain hints from India and Persia ? The Brahmins 
of India were followers of nature, and so were the 
Taoists. There is much common ground between 
the Magi of Persia and the teachings of Zoroaster 
and that of Taoism. They worshiped the sun, moon, 
and five planets, and so do the Taoists. Their idea 
of a Divine Being was a dualism of good and evil per- 
sonified. This was the ancient belief of China ; the 
Magi held a dualism at eternal variance, while the 
Chinese of unison. But we find the dualistic prin- 
ciples of China differing in their characteristics almost 
as much as Ormuzd and Ahriman. One is bright, 
good, and strong, and the other dark, evil, and weak. 
It is evident that the germinal religious ideas of Asia, 
from Mongolia to Egypt, had a common emanation. 
The cradle of religions — however divergent they may 



288 Doomed Religions. 

be at the present time — was rocked by the hands of 
the Median Magi. " But what sprung originally from 
a love of truth, from the scientific tendencies of the 
human mind, could soon, in the hands of the dishonest 
and the grasping, be prostituted to fulfill the ends of 
vulgar avarice and sordid ambition ; and hence, the 
degradation of the wise man, the priest of science, 
into the magician, the wonder-worker, with his mag- 
ical theurgia and wicked incantations." It is a sin- 
gular coincidence that two great minds so remotely 
separated as Pythagoras and Lao-Tsz should hold 
views so common. Their ideas regarding a Divine 
Being and the method of his operation were not at 
variance. Pythagoras believed Deity was the soul 
of the universe diffused through all its parts. The 
Tao-Tah-Kin teaches us that a nature principle or 
force pervades all creation. It is a voidless spiritual 
power, from which all creation sprung, and which 
fills it in every part. " We must bend all our ener- 
gies to grasp it. It is that to which the pure return, 
while the evil-doers are cut off from it, to be restored, 
alone, by reformation." The antiquity of Taoism, or 
Chinese Magianism, or Dualism, rests upon the most 
indubitable evidence — the annals of the country — 
and no time can be fixed as a starting-point. 

At the very dawn of Chinese history, we find the 
Tao-Sz, doctors of the Tao, claiming theurgic power, 
and exerting no inconsiderable influence upon the 



Taoism. 289 

country. Those annals tell us that Shao-Hao, the 
emperor, JB. C. 2597, was brought under their spell. 
" The governors of nine provinces had recourse to 
the powers of magic, and exhibited to the ignorant 
multitudes a kind of hideous specters to which they 
were actually induced to pay a species of religious 
worship. Thus it seems at this early day a species 
of idolatry sprung up. The fabulous chronology of 
China, ascribing countless eras to heavenly, earthly, 
and men emperors, is supposed to be the work of the 
Tao-Sz. The second emperor of the Tsin dynasty, 
B. C. 250, was under their influence, for after de- 
stroying the Confucian classics and four hundred and 
sixty men of letters, he fitted out a naval expedition 
to search out the Islands of the Blest. He placed 
Siew-Shi, a professor of magical arts, a Tao-Sz, at the 
head of it. This trickster persuaded the emperor that 
they would meet with a more favorable reception at 
the Golden Isles, if a company of youths and maid- 
ens accompanied it. So several thousand were sent 
with him. On their return the voyagers reported 
they had sailed within sight of the islands, but had 
been driven back by contrary winds. The third em- 
peror of the Han dynasty was a devoted follower of 
the sect, and the priests drew immense sums from 
him for their ceremonies, and the ingredients of their 
enchanted draughts. At the close of the Han, A. D. 

220, the sect was a formidable power, and mustered 
19 



290 Doomed Religions. 

followers by the hundreds of thousands, called " Yel- 
low-Caps." They took occasion to revolt against the 
secular power, with the object of controlling the throne 
in their interests, and brought an immense army into 
the field, but w^ere defeated by strategy. From what- 
ever source may have been the religious beliefs we 
call in the aggregate Taoism, we see from contempo- 
rary history that their influence was ever expanding, 
and entered every channel of thought, and either orig- 
inated or sequestered nearly all the superstitious rites 
of the land. Its origin, although lost in the impene- 
trable mists of antiquity, early took definite shape, 
and, until the first century of the Christian era, was 
without rival, and formulated at will faiths and rites, 
however absurd, for the masses of China. Ancestral 
worship, if it may be termed a religion, came not in 
its way, for it was accepted as one of its dogmas. 
Confucianism was in no way its rival, for to be a 
follower of both was common for centuries after 
Confucius' s time, and in no way inconsistent to-day. 
There is not an element in the Chinese character 
susceptible of administering to the designs of these 
wonder-workers which has remained unworked. Fear 
and credulity, which make up a considerable part of 
the Chinaman's natural inheritance, have been taxed 
to the utmost by the marvel- workers of fraud. The 
Chinaman is called upon to believe Lao-Tsz, in a pre- 
incarnation, to be the founder of the church. He is 



Taoism. 291 

taught to be the ancestor of all religions, and to have 
been the teacher of mankind through all the fabulous 
periods of Chinese history. During the period of 
the celestial emperors he is styled the teacher of the 
somber heavens, in the reign of the earth emperors he 
is known as the ancient teacher, and during the time 
of the men emperors he is called Puon-Ku Teacher. 
In all, he was the teacher of the world thirteen times. 
His last appearance, according to some writers, was 
in the reign of Yang-Kia, of the Shang dynasty, 
B.C. 1390, eight hundred and thirty -nine years before 
Confucius, and is said to have lived one hundred and 
fifty-seven years after that philosopher's death, attain- 
ing the goodly age of nine hundred and ninety-six 
years. He is generally supposed to have been born 
some fifty years before Confucius. 

Diffusion. — I cannot believe, as some do, that the 
Chinese were from the beginning monotheists, and 
have in some mysterious manner preserved distinct 
from the religion or the religious beliefs of the people 
a State religion of a monotheistic character. The 
very genius of the people forbids the thought. " Like 
priest, like people," is an adage which may be applied 
to the Chinese: Like ruler, like people. If there 
had been preserved the idea of a one God, ruler and 
providence, at the capital of the empire, and homage 
at stated times given to him, it is quite certain the 
thought of such a being to the high functionaries, 



292 Doomed Religions. 

appointed to worship him, could not but have been 
molded somewhat by the high-priestal office. And 
in the government of the people these monotheistic 
ideas could not have been so completely excluded. 
I see evidences of worship paid to deified emperors 
under titles of Tien, Heaven ; Ti, Ruler or Rulers ; 
and Shang-Ti, Upper Ruler, or Highest Ruler, or 
Rulers. This State worship I conceive to have orig- 
inated as ancestral worship. Then, ancestral worship 
is of two orders, imperial and plebeian, being dis- 
tinct, as the emperor and the people. He being of 
heavenly appointment pays homage to a line of heav- 
enly emperors. The greater homage being given 
to the ancestor of all Shang-Ti) ( \> *ff*i) highest 
ruler. 

Dr. Williams says : " There are strong reasons for 
the inference that the early sovereigns of the Chinese 
worshiped the spirits of their deified ancestors under 
this term, (Shang-Ti,) to whom they looked for help ; 
one Shang-Ti was sufficient for the guardian of the 
empire, and continued on from one dynasty to an- 
other, whatever family was deputed to hold the 
throne ; and unlimited dignity and powers were as- 
cribed to him, while the monarch holding the seat 
would include in his devotions and sacrifices all his 
predecessors whose spiritual favor he desired. The 
idea, therefore, involves many monarchs who have 
been deified, and, as guardians of the throne they once 



Taoism. 293 

occupied, they have been and are still all supplicated 
for their spiritual aid by its actual incumbent down 
to this day." 

Starting with this idea, the Taoists, ever zealous to 
reflect the image of the whole worship of the em- 
pire, set up for the worship of the dragon throne 
a Yu Hwang Shang-Ti, Supreme Pearly Shang-Ti. 
"When, how, and by w r hom, whether by the emperors 
themselves or by the Tao-Sz, the idea of a homage to 
a celestial emperor, who rules above and in the coun- 
cils of men, originated is not capable of solution. 
We know that the Taoists worship a god called the 
Supreme Emperor of Heaven, whose vicegerent, the 
emperor, rules on earth. But these two orders of 
ancestral worship were too meager for a marvel-loving 
people. The stars were early peopled with good and 
malignant spirits ; the wind, rain, thunder, lightning, 
earthquake, eclipse, every movement in nature was 
the manifestation of spirit pow T er. Every transfor- 
mation, every transaction in life, has a good or evil 
deity behind it. The air is full of spirits ; the lakes, 
rivers, ponds, morasses, are the homes of fabulous 
monsters and gods. Good and evil spirits are every- 
where active, and control the destiny of man from 
birth to death. In all the events of life the invisible 
spirits, good and bad, must be propitiated, to enlist 
the good in their behalf, and appease the bad. At 
night, should the Chinaman walk abroad, he does, 



294 Doomed Religions. 

so with an oppressed sense that hosts of spirits 
encompass him. ISTo good or bad act is beyond their 
ken or agency ; the most trivial accident is the work 
of a spirit. With these prevailing ideas among all 
classes, the astrologers, magicians, and sorcerers, all 
of whom were termed Tao-Sz, or doctors of Tao, had 
a most prolific field for cultivation. The natural 
fears of the people, and their intense love of the mar- 
velous, aided wonderfully in the diffusion of Taoist 
ideas. In connection with this religious order, be- 
fore the time of Lao-Tsz, there were many recluses, 
who rigorously practiced asceticism with the hope of 
escaping the miseries of the world, and attaining to 
the joys of the immortals, Chen- Yin, true or divine 
men, as they were called. This element, although 
considerable, was confined to the choice conscientious 
spirits, which, as leaven, is ever manifest in its insig- 
nificance to the great mass, yet powerful in shaping 
the destinies of society. The great majority of the 
leaders, however, were mere charlatans, who preyed 
upon the weakness of the people, and led them 
into the most ridiculous adventures, to secure the 
impossible. Thus, taking advantage of the childish 
simplicity of the people, they were able to extend 
their influence to every part of the land, and per- 
petrate and perpetuate the most shameful frauds. 
With such a soil in which to grow, it is no wonder 
Taoism luxuriated until it spread like a vine over the 



Taoism. 295 

whole land. With China cut off from the outside 
world it is not to be wondered at that her influ- 
ence became well-nigh universal, and able to con- 
trol the ceremonies of people and State, to offer up 
sacrifices upon the holy mountains and the most 
sacred altars of China. There has not been that unity 
of effort to build up a great hierarchy, and found 
great monasteries, as among the Buddhists, but the 
aim has been rather to control the thought and con- 
science of the people, and stand between them and 
the spirit world. They have made their liturgies 
to meet the wants of all classes under all circum- 
stances. Its diffusion has not depended so much upon 
doctrines or the earnestness of devotees, as the gen- 
eral coincidence of faith and practice with the su- 
perstitious ideas of the masses. It is really the re- 
ligion of the people, merely directed by professionals. 
Catechise the ordinary Chinaman and you will find 
his ideas of life, death, and the future, the proper 
rites to be observed, the gods to be feared and wor- 
shiped, efficacy of charms, tally pretty nearly with 
the Taoist. So inwrought are the teachings of this 
religion into the common ideas of the Chinaman, that 
it is difficult to divine where it begins and ends. 'No 
doubt, in localities, the opinions of the people have 
been somewhat modified by the teachings of Bud- 
dhism, but every-where, north, south, east, west, the 
whole empire over, the substratum is Taoist, and will 



296 Doomed Religions. 

remain so until western science and religion demon- 
strate to the Chinese the foolishness of Fung-Shui, 
and other superstitions ideas, now dominant the whole 
land over. While all the state gods and altars are 
served by the priests of Tao, while the sick-room is 
invaded by their senseless rites, and magic incanta- 
tions over sick and dead are loudly called for, and 
geomantic rites are popular in the selection of graves 
and building sites ; while astrologers are in con- 
stant demand to determine the fortuitous and unf or- 
tuitous events of life, and fortune-telling is a science ; 
while floods, dearths, and epidemics are by imperial 
sanction held to be wholly under the control of the 
Masters of Heaven — mere sorcerers — the diffusion 
can be scarcely less than universal. 

Philosophers of Tao. — The ten philosophers, whose 
writings have come down to us, were more or less 
recluses, believers in and followers of Tao. Four — 
Lao, Zieh, Chuang, Ilo-Kwan were ascetics. Three 
of the ten were Conf ucianists, but wrote upon Taoist 
subjects, and, as one writer says, were friendly to the 
sect. One of the remaining three was of the army, 
and eminent as narrator : Ilwai-JSfan was both Con- 
fucianist and Taoist. Besides these writers, it is 
claimed there were many in ancient times who wrote 
upon Taoist subjects, but, unfortunately, their works 
were lost. The writings of the Yellow Emperor, more 
than two thousand five hundred years B. C, are quoted 



Taoism. 297 

by Lieh-Tsz. Others give the same emperor the 
honor of writing a work upon the Yellow Palace, 
Heaven. Where Lao-Tsz says, "The spirit of the 
valley never dies," or the soul never dies, the com- 
mentator says this is a quotation from the Yellow 
Emperor. No doubt there were writers who treated 
the prevailing religious ideas ; none had arisen, how- 
ever, who could compare with the great Lao-Tsz. 

Early in the first century of the Christian era 
there appeared a remarkable man by the name of 
Chang-Tao-Lin, who founded a new order. He was 
later styled Master or Teacher of Heaven. There 
have been in this family sixty-one teachers, or popes. 
The family traces its pedigree back to the Yellow 
Emperor. They claim their ancestors were eminent 
as teachers and public men several generations pre- 
vious to the Christian era. There is a full history of 
this remarkable family, in six volumes, published at 
Lung-Hu, in the province of Kiang-Si. Of all the 
philosophers and writers of the past eighteen hun- 
dred years, none have been considered worthy to en- 
roll with the giants of old. 

In the Han dynasty, in the reigns of Wen and Kin, 
the writings of Lao-Tsz were honored as classics, and 
used in the schools. Again, in the Tang dynasty, 
A. D. 713, the books of Lao-Tsz, Chwang-Tsz, Wen- 
Tsz, Lieh-Tsz, w T ere enrolled as classics. 

The prince of Taoist teachers is Lao-Tsz. He 



298 Doomed Religions. 

stands out peerless and unique in every respect. 
The founder of the Min dynasty (A. D. 1368) de^ 
clares of him, " He descended repeatedly from heaven 
to be the imperial teacher ; generation after genera- 
tion he ceased not, but men knew him not. History, 
which has recorded every thing which could be of 
interest about Confucius, even to the minutest details 
of his daily life, failed to hand down the daily acts 
of a man who, for character and grasp of thought, 
far transcends his contemporary, Confucius." 

The father of Lao-Tsz is said to have been a peasant, 
who married, at the age of seventy, a woman little 
more than half his years. He is supposed to have 
been born B. C. 604. At his birth he took nine 
steps, and from each step there sprung up a lotus 
flower. The left hand pointed heavenward, the right 
earthward. He said, " In heaven above and earth be- 
neath the Tao, or Logos, is alone to be honored." 

The first emperor of the Min dynasty, commenting 
upon this, says when Buddha was born he took seven 
steps, one hand pointed to the heavens and the other 
to the earth, and he said, " In heaven above and upon 
earth only I am to be honored." It should not have 
been thus. 

He is said to have had seventy-two distinguishing 
points and eighty-one excellences. Some of these 
marks are as follows : " His head was round like 
heaven, and coiled upward with concealed bright- 



Taoism. 299 

ness ; white hair like a crane, over seven feet long ; 
eyebrows like north stars, color green like the feath- 
ers of birds, and within were purple hairs over five 
inches long ; his mustache and beard white and pure 
as silk ; his ears were even in height with the crown 
of the head ; the eyes like the light of the sun, the 
pupil was square, with green nerves ; the nose had a 
pair of bridges in the form of a divided horn; his 
breath of purple color, and fragrant like the Lan 
flower ; his tongue was long, and like unto embroid- 
ery ; his mouth a pearly fountain, full to the brim, its 
flavor sweet and fragrant, and constantly pouring out 
excellent discourses ; his voice as golden pearls ; the 
sun temple like a horn, the moon temple an abyss ; 
a golden countenance of pearly beauty; a dragon's 
forehead most majestic, with the graceful look of the 
phenix ; the neck had three sections, as a crane's, 
white and lofty ; the arms reached to the knees ; his 
body had green hair ; the back had a river or belt 
of stars ; over the heart an impression of a coin ; the 
hands had crosses and the feet mystical wans; the 
fingers had the Yin and Yang, (dual principles ;) he 
was twelve feet in height, (English measure, eight 
feet four inches ;) the whole body had the fragrance 
of flowers, his visage like porcelain, his walk like the 
step of a tiger." 

Sz-Ma-Kien, the great historian, who lived 100 
B. C, says, Lao-Tsz was a man from the town of 



300 Doomed Eeligions. 

Ku, (bitter,) in the village of Li, of Chii-Yin-Li, in the 
kingdom of Tsao. His surname was Li, (plum ;) name, 
Er, (ear;) style, Pa-Yang, and his posthumous title 
was Tan, or flat-eared. He was the librarian of Chao. 

Confucius went to the court of Chao, and inquired 
of Lao-Tsz concerning its ceremonies. Lao-Tsz said 
to him, that which you inquire about, those men and 
their bones, are already consumed, and their words 
alone remain. The princely man, obtaining his op- 
portunity, mounts the chariot, but, out of office, he 
wanders at will, and roams about. I have heard it 
said, the good shopman secretes deeply, as though 
empty. The princely man, complete in virtue, car- 
ries a look of stupidity. Free yourself, sir, of your 
proud, disdainful spirit, with your many aspirations, 
your lustful look, and licentious inclinations, w T hich 
are all to the disparagement of your person. This is 
all I have to communicate to you. 

Confucius departed, and said to his disciples, I 
know how birds can fly, and fish can swim, and 
beasts can run. Those that run may be snared, those 
that swim may be caught with silken cords, and 
those that fly may be darted. In regard to the 
dragon I know not how he sits upon the wind-cloud 
and ascends up to heaven. I have this day seen Lao- 
Tsz, and he is a dragon. Lao-Tsz prepared or en- 
larged the Tao-Tah-Kin, whose tenets he kept secret, 
deeming it imperative to be without honor, (worldly 



Taoism. 301 

honor.) He dwelt a long time at Chao, and wit- 
nessed its decay ; he then departed, and went over 
the borders. Hsi, the guard of the pass, said, let 
the master secrete himself and write books for me. 
Thereupon he wrote the first and second parts of 
his book, discoursing upon the meanings of Tao-Tah. 
five thousand characters. Afterward he went forth, 
and I do not know where he ended his life. 

.The same author says, "Lao-Tsz was a princely 
man in secret. His son's name was Tsung, and was 
a military commander of Wei 400 B. C." Soon 
after this time there arose dissensions between the 
followers of Confucius and Lao-Tsz, their doctrines 
being dissimilar. There is a temple epitaph dedicated 
to Lao-Tsz, written the sixth year of Sei dynasty, 
about 600 A. D. 

From the beginning of Tai Kih, the first division 
of creation, the heavens were elevated on all sides, 
and the sun and moon were suspended. The earth 
corners were crossed, and the mountains and streams 
filled in. There were the spirits of dissolving and 
repressing, and the times of the upper life and lower 
life. Therefore were fashioned all kinds, the form 
and elements of all sorts. There were people, and 
there were rulers. In respect to Shang-Hwang — 
upper ruler — in the remote ages of time, in the sum- 
mer they dwelt in nests, and in winter in caves ; they 
calmed their spirits and practiced wisdom, dwelling 



302 Doomed Religions. 

as quails, and feeding as fledglings. The great rites 
were in perfect conjunction with, nature, needing 
none to decide doubts of worship. The great music 
was in perfect harmony with nature, and how can 
there be in the beating and striking of bells and 
drums ? After these doctrines were lost, and virtues 
lost, came humanity. Emperors had their peculiari- 
ties, some slow, some fast. The transformations of 
the people were good and bad. As quarreling ducks, 
the Confucianists and Sz-Ma-Kienites, one for titles, 
or name, and the other for rules, or order, together 
rushed the course. Three hundred ceremonial clas- 
sics, and not able to understand their natural disposi- 
tions. Three thousand penal laws, but not sufficient 
to put down traitors and villains. Therefore be it 
known that the limpid, flowing water has a pure 
fountain. If the twigs are straight the roots are not 
awry. The fountain and the root alone are impor- 
tant in the doctrines. At the birth of Lao-Tsz the 
stars were agitated, the causes of his existence are 
unfathomable. He pointed to a tree for his surname. 
The root of the musical notes are not fully known. 
Seventy and more years was he nourished in the 
womb, and was born gray-headed, and took for his 
name " Old Boy." His ear had three orifices, upon 
his feet soles was the character five, and upon his 
palms were crosses. These remarkable images were 
upon feet and hands. From Fu-Hsi to Chao he had 



Taoism. 303 

an unbroken descent ; from generation to generation 
he manifested liis substance and changed his name. 
In reference to the Tao-Tah, the same writer says, 
u Its scope is deep and far-reaching, its instructions 
are sparing but weighty ; the Yi is nowhere compared 
with its subtilties, and the Chwen-Tsiu (of Confu- 
cius) is not to be compared to its clearness and ob- 
scurity. If practiced in governing the body or per- 
son, the soul will be pure and the will quiet. If 
practiced in the State, the people will return to hon- 
esty and become pure. Lao-Tsz, having refined his 
corporeal nature, now in green-black robes, courses to 
and fro through the purple capital, mounted upon a 
crane, quaffing golden syrups and precious wines, 
banqueting in the pure metropolis. He blends in 
the glorious light of the sun and moon, like begin- 
ning and ending of heaven and earth. Those that 
follow in his footsteps shall reject a contentious 
world, and, obtaining his science, shall skip the 
clouds and fogs, and shall be like a tree of long life, 
fading and flourishing, which by no means is within 
the comprehension of gnats. 

The Tao-Tah-Kin, which consists of eighty-one short 
chapters of five thousand characters, is a most remark- 
able book. For depth of thought and purity of doc- 
trines it stands at the head of Chinese literature. 
Moral maxims are found as clean cut as ever found 
place in heathen literature. Some foreign scholars 



304 Doomed Eeligions. 

ascribe to Lao-Tsz all that his book contains. He is 
looked upon as the founder of the system which he 
teaches, and every thought found in the pages of his 
book as originating in his brain. In so doing, by 
what means can we account for the religious out- 
growth before his time ? Why should we claim 
more for the recluse and librarian of the royal ar- 
chives of Chao than he claims for himself ? Should 
we claim more for him than native writers, who are 
enthusiastic admirers of the great philosopher ? Dr. 
Legge says, " Every part of his system, from its first 
conception down to its minutest details, was the legit- 
imate offspring of his own brain. The Tao-Tah-Kin, 
therefore, to all appearance, stands out alone without 
history and without antecedents, possessing the only 
materials for its interpretation within its own pages." 
I look upon Lao-Tsz as a great admirer and student 
of the ancients, not as a copyist, or servile follower. 
He caught the spirit of the past, and attempted to re- 
flect it through his own contemplations and heart ex- 
periences. The key of past learning was in his hand, 
and amid the excesses of court life his ascetic tastes 
led him to turn away in disgust from the pomp of 
life, from its hollow forms, to study and contemplate 
the worthier side of life. The thoughts he acquired 
were discussed and expanded in his conversations 
with his disciples, and come to us as the ripe fruit, 
the best thoughts, of China's religious philosophy, or 



Taoism. 305 

politico-ethical system, as it has been called. In the 
fifteenth chapter of the Tao-Tah-Kin he says, " The 
skillful philosophers that were in the olden time, had 
a mystic communication with the abyss, (or, as the 
commentator says, heaven, instead of abyss.) They 
were deep and cannot be known ; not being able to be 
known, I force myself a picture of them." 

A few of the maxims he taught will interest the 
general reader, and show the groundwork of his phi- 
losophy. These maxims, although they seem involved 
in mysticism, and more speculative to the author than 
real, could not but have possessed a wonderful fascina- 
tion for the inquirer after truth. " Therefore the sage 
puts himself last, and yet is first ; abandons himself, 
and yet is preserved. Is this not through his having 
no selfishness ? Thereby he preserves self-interest in- 
tact." " By putting away impurity from the hidden eye 
of the heart, it is possible to be without spot. He that 
humbles (himself) shall be preserved entire. He who 
is self-exalting does not stand high. Not looking on 
objects of lust keeps the heart from disorder. The 
good I would meet with goodness; the not-good I would 
also meet with goodness ; virtue is good. The faithful 
I would meet with faith, and the not-faithful I would 
meet w T ith faith." " Judge not your fellow-men. Be 
chaste, but do not chasten others. Be strictly correct 
yourself, and do not cut and carve other people. I 

have three precious things which I hold fast and prize; 
20 



306 Doomed Religions. 

namely, compassion, economy, and humility. Being 
compassionate, I can be brave; being economical, I 
can be liberal; and being humble, I can become the 
chief of men. But in the present day men give up 
compassion, and cultivate only courage ; they give up 
economy, and aim only at liberality; they give up 
the last place, and seek only the first ; it is their death. 
Compassion is that which is victorious in the attack 
and secure in the defense. When Heaven would save 
a man, it encircles him with compassion." " He who 
knows the light, and at the same time keeps the 
shade, will be the whole world's model. Being the 
whole world's model, eternal virtue will not miss 
him, and he will return home to the Absolute. He 
who knows the glory, and at the same time keeps to 
shame, will be the whole world's valley, eternal virtue 
will fill him, and he will return home to Tao." These 
texts, or topics of discussions with his disciples, places 
him as a teacher of men upon a far higher plane than 
that occupied by the great Confucius. 

As an Idolatrous System. — It has been claimed 
that, previous to the introduction of Buddhism, there 
was no image or idolatrous worship in China. To 
what extent this may be true we have slender means 
of knowing. It is quite certain that sacrifices were 
offered to Heaven and Earth, to Ti or Shang-Ti, 
Ruler or Rulers, long before the advent of Lao- 
Tsz and Confucius. That there were temples and 



Taoism. 307 

sacrificial vessels is also certain. There were an- 
cestral temples in which offerings were made to 
ancestors, and there is little doubt that tablets were 
in common use in such services. Sacrifices were 
also offered to the spirits, (Shen.) The worshipers 
are frequently admonished to make the offerings as 
though the spirits and ancestors were present at 
the offerings. Processions of an idolatrous character 
are recorded. It seems quite in keeping with Chi- 
nese thought that the deified emperors should be 
worshiped through some visible medium, image or 
images. There is one passage in the classics which 
appears to me to convey the idea of image worship 
at that time : " Shang-Ti dwells amid the fumes of 
sacrifices." Through whatever media their offerings 
were made to Shang-Ti and Shen, it is certain the 
worship was polytheistic in character. There is a 
passage which says, "A hundred gods enjoy the 
offerings." The worship of the Five Rulers and the 
three Emperors, Fu-Hsi, Shen-Nung, and Hwang-Ti, 
was of early date. That the Buddhists were the first 
to set up image worship in China is doubtful. A 
passage in Mencius, a disciple of Confucius, seems to 
indicate such to be the case, and was quoted for me 
by a native scholar. Whatever might have been the 
visible representation of their pantheon, there was a 
host of star divinities which received divine honors. 
There were three hundred and sixty-eight of these 



308 Doomed Religions. 

divinities, wliicli had control of every quarter of the 
heavens, and hundreds of holy mountains and sacred 
places were consecrated to their worship. The fol- 
lowing is a list of the divisions : 

Six gods constitute the first division or board of fire. Seven gods, 
the second, of plagues. Twenty-nine gods, the third, of five quar- 
ters. One hundred and fifteen gods, the fourth, of star divinities. 
Twenty gods, the fifth, of constellation divinities. Thirty-six gods, 
the sixth, of large star gods which follow the constellations. Five 
gods, the seventh, of north star. Seventy-two gods, the eighth, of 
malignant deities. Mne gods, the ninth, of brilliant ones which fol- 
low five constellations. Twelve gods, the tenth, of gods of great 
years. Four gods, the eleventh, of holies, great generals, which guard 
Lao-Tsz. Five gods, the twelfth, of riches or wealth. Four gods, 
the thirteenth, of heavenly kings, who protect the government and 
pacify the people. Two gods, the fourteenth, of temple doors, which 
protect the precious laws. Five gods, the fifteenth, of small-pox. 
Three gods, the sixteenth, of childbirth. One god, the seventeenth, 
of water. One god, the eighteenth, of ice dissolving. One god, the 
nineteenth, of tile dividing. 

Add to these the temple gods, such as Lao-Tsz, 
San-Tsin, (Three Pure Ones,) Yii Hwang Shang-Ti, 
(Supreme Pearly Ruler,) and many more, and we 
have a pantheon equal to the wants of the most re- 
ligious. It is supposed, upon the introduction of 
Buddhism, the Taoist worship was greatly modified. 
There were sanguinary feuds between them as to 
sacred mountains, for several hundred years after 
Buddhism had gained a foothold in the land, in which 
compromises were effected which greatly modified 
the character of both sects. Lao-Tsz is at the head 



Taoism. 309 

of the pantheon, and is considered the first created 
of all beings, but too high for the approach of mor- 
tals. The trinity, which consists of what is called 
San-Tsin or Shang-Tsin, Tai-Tsin, Yii-Tsin, although 
found in almost all their temples with Lao-Tsz, do not 
receive very much attention. The god Yii Hwang 
Shang-Ti is universally worshiped, and is, without 
doubt, China's representative idea of a personal 
God, of a Providence, which is intimately connected 
with the affairs of the universe, who from his pearly 
throne in heaven guides all the affairs of the world. 
In reading Taoist books, and frequent catechising of 
priests, and collating the several passages in the Con- 
fucian classics where the names Tien, Heaven ; Ti, 
Ruler; Shang-Ti, Upper or Highest Ruler, and Hao 
Tien Shang-Ti, Supreme Upper Ruler of Heaven, 
occur, and the reading of introductions to Taoist 
books by literary men, and the attitude the philoso- 
pher Chii and the scholar Sz-Ma-Kien bore toward 
the sect, and the introduction the former wrote to a 
treatise on the god Yii Hwang, I am compelled to 
believe that the Shang-Ti of the ancient classics and 
the Shang-Ti of the Taoists are identical. The found- 
er of the Min dynasty, 1368 A.D., evidently so under- 
stood the case. He wrote a long, and as a Chinaman 
would consider a learned, introduction to the Tao-Tah- 
Kin, and made a journey to the celebrated temple in 
the mountains of Hu-Peh to worship. He also caused 



310 Doomed Religions. 

the worship of Heaven and Earth at the solstices, 
anciently offered to the Five Rulers, ( ff '__ d£p ) to be 
confined to Shang-Ti, ( /• -ife*) ^ e Taoist Shang-Ti, 
which he no doubt conceived to be identical with 
the Shang-Ti of the classics or the sages. Popular 
opinion makes this divinity the head of the invisible 
world of spirits even as the emperor is head of men 
on earth. It is quite certain the rulers of the pres- 
ent dynasty follow in the footsteps of the Min 
rulers, and pay homage to the Yii Hwang Shang-Ti 
of the Taoists as the state god. Dr. Williams says, 
" Shang-Ti, the Supreme Ruler, the highest being in 
the heavenly pantheon, and now worshiped by the 
emperor alone as the source of his vicegerent power. 
He further says, " The Rationalists have degraded the 
term by making many Shang-Ti." It must be held 
in mind that the five elected Rulers (Ti) before 
Yii the Great, B. C. 2597-2255, were worshiped as 
gods by the emperors. The Taoists have their five 
ancient Shang-Ti. Now, was not the same religious 
element that gave these state divinities to China one 
and the same that thus controlled, all along, the wor- 
ship of the people? The Temple of Heaven at Pe- 
king is devoted to the worship of this Taoist god, and , 
the classic called Yu Hwang Kin is used in serv- 
ices for the empire. I will quote what the Rev. Dr.. 
Justus Doolittle says of this temple and its worship : 
"The interior of this pavilion is devoted to the 



Taoism. 311 

worship of tlie chief god of the Taoist religion, l the 
Pearly Emperor Supreme Ruler/ by the Chinese 
emperor himself, as I was distinctly informed by 
the keepers of the premises. Their statement is cor- 
roborated by the inscription in Chinese to be found 
upon the tablet which is used on the occasion of the 
emperor's worshiping. Some foreigners, however, 
seem to believe that the worship is designed to 
be given to 'the Supreme Ruler of the Imperial 
Heavens, 5 or, as the Chinese expression is rendered 
by others, 'the Ruler on High of the Imperial 
Heavens,' that is, as they understand the subject, 
Heaven, or the true God. Few, however, believe that 
the Chinese emperor worships the true God. A 
small tablet, having the usual title of the chief divin- 
ity of Chinese Rationalism, Yii Hwang Shang-Ti, in- 
scribed upon it in large gilt characters, is placed in a 
chair standing on the throne erected in the northern 
part of the interior. On the right and on the left 
hand sides of the room are placed seven or eight 
large and elegantly carved chairs, which are used to 
hold tablets representing the deceased emperors of 
the dominant dynasty during the time occupied by 
the living emperor in burning incense before the 
tablet of the Supreme Ruler, the Pearly Emperor, 
and in performing the prescribed acts of worship. 
The spirits of the deceased emperors are supposed to 
be present as worshipers, not as objects of worship, 



312 Taoism. 

during the ceremonies of the occasion. I was told 
by the men who belong to the premises, whether cor- 
rectly or incorrectly I cannot affirm, that sacrifices are 
offered three times yearly to the Pearly Emperor, 
Yii Hwang Shang-Ti, consisting in part of eleven 
bullocks, twelve rams, three swine, two deer, and 
twelve hares. Near by is an immense furnace, in 
which the carcass of a bullock is consumed as a kind 
of burnt-offering, while the others are being offered 
whole as sacrifices. I noticed ten immense iron open- 
work censers or furnaces, each large enough to hold 
several barrels, where mock money was burnt in large 
quantities at the proper time during the ceremonies. 
It is evident that the highest homage of the empire, 
since 1368 A. D., has been given to the chief Taoist 
deity, Yii Hwang Shang-Ti. The Taoists, as guard- 
ians of the state gods, have from time to time pro- 
cured additional titles to this and other deities. 

There are many collateral evidences in the customs, 
language, and art of the empire showing the very 
genius of the people to have been directed by the 
ideas that have been dominant in Taoist worship, 
showing this religion to be part and parcel of the 
every-day life of the people. In almost all ornamen- 
tation upon porcelain, carving upon wood and stone, 
and in various other ways, their religious ideas have 
been incarnated. Some have thought it inconsist- 
ent to call the Shang-Ti of the Taoists the Shang-Ti 



Doomed Religions 313 

of the classics. Thev affirm the Yii Hwan^ Shang-Ti, 
wliicli the Taoists worship, was canonized in the Tang 
dynasty in the seventh or eight century of our era. 
Dr. Legge says, " The original of this popular idol was 
a magician of the Chang family, that has given so 
many patriarchs to Taoism." It may be said, the 
Chang family nowhere claim such honor for any of 
the popes which they have given to China, sixty one 
in number. The religious books in use in their serv- 
ices, and the history of the family, do not, so far as I 
can find, make mention of any of their number hav- 
ing received such universal honors. On the contrary, 
the liturgies which they use in public services ascribe 
divine honors to this deity, and say he was from an- 
tiquity, and that at one time he regenerated himself 
through more than three thousand kalpas, or eras, 
which were as one day (to him.) He is called the 
" Imperishable," " Indestructible One," " Highest of 
Spiritual Beings," " The Pearly Emperor, the great 
honored of Heaven." The "Ancient Shang-Ti." 
" Thou art the lord of the heavens of vast eras, subtle 
or sight, subtle of knowledge." " Without relations, 
inscrutable to the saved, inscrutable to the lost, 
most holy and spiritual all-prevading deity." There 
is a marvelous account of the incarnation of this god 
in the classics used by the Heavenly Teachers. His 
birth was equally as wonderful as that of Lao-Tsz, and 
dates back to prehistoric times. He was the direct 



314 Taoism. 

gift of Heaven by Lao-Tsz to the queen of the king- 
dom of Kwang-Yin-Miao-Lo. The narrative occurs 
in the highest liturgy of the church, and is used upon 
state occasions. Equally as flattering ascriptions are 
found in other prayers. The Chang family represent 
but one order of Taoism, and are in no way connected 
with the temples or celibate priests. Further, in in- 
vocations the Heavenly Teachers direct their mes- 
sages or prayers to the first teacher of their family, 
whose duty it is to present it in heaven to this pop- 
ular deity. 

Branches of Taoism, — There are five orders or 
branches of Taoism, and, in some respects, radically 
different. The Taoists who reside in temples and 
those who follow ascetic habits affiliate more with the 
Buddhists than with the Heavenly Teachers, or Re- 
citers of Prayers. These different orders hold to the 
classics of Lao-Tsz and other ancient writings. Some 
of the orders have never risen high in public esti- 
mation, and have been severely criticised and con- 
demned by the more orthodox. The first order we 
notice is called Tsung-Men, which, as a class, better 
represent the ancient recluses, the dreamy, fantastical 
philosophers, who withdrew from home and society, 
and spent years in reverie and the study of Tao. 
They meditated upon incorporeal things until their 
bodies were so refined and their spirits controlled, 
that they claimed to be able " to float upon the clouds 



Doomed Religions. 315 

and roam to distant places." They despised the 
world, and esteemed life of value only as it was 
brought into harmony with the supernatural. They 
were like the Essenes living by the Dead Sea. As 
the Essenes borrowed much from Pythagorean and 
Platonic philosophy, so these dreamers evidently bor- 
rowed from outside sources. They held themselves 
aloof from the business relations of life and worldly 
objects, deeming them evil and antagonistic to spir- 
itual development. They believed by constant appli- 
cation to abstraction of thought, they would event- 
ually become identified with Tao, as the Buddhist 
with Nirvana, and that they would be able to " divest 
themselves of their bodies and mount above to the 
land of spirits or genii." They did not live in tem- 
ples or conform to any particular rites. 

The second order we call Lio-Men, a priestal class, 
celibates, that dress their hair in a peculiar manner, 
wear long blue robes, with great hats made of leaves 
or bamboos ; live in temples, attend upon the idols. 
They take regular orders, and are supposed to study 
litanies and religious books; abstain iu great meas- 
ure from animal food ; beg from door to door ; build 
temples for their patrons, selecting the finest sites in 
the country and most prominent in the cities. Their 
temples are often very fine, and their idols, Yii Hwang, 
San-Tsin, Kwang-Ti, Ta Wang, San Kwan, Lin Shen, 
and many others, are large and costly. They often 



316 Taoism. 

act as fortune-tellers and have cupboards with drawers 
in which are divining lots. Any one who has had 
occasion to visit the temples and converse with the 
priests could not fail to be impressed with the igno- 
rance and profligacy of these " yellow tops," as they 
are sometimes called. 

The third order is called Kiaio-Men. This impor- 
tant order, which titles itself the true or orthodox 
church, took its rise in the first century of the Chris- 
tian era. Its founder, Chang-Tao-Lin, was a recluse 
of the old style, and of reputation in the country. 
He held a civil office for a time, but wearied of its 
impediments to a reflective life and magical pursuits. 
He declined the preferments of the empire and 
sought seclusion, which he found at length in the ro- 
mantic mountains of Lung-Hu, in the province of 
Kiang-Si. Here he collected, it is claimed, one thou- 
sand disciples, to whom he imparted his knowledge 
of magic. Not satisfied with his attainments he 
traveled abroad, and finally brought up in Sz-Chwen, 
and in the mountains of this province he practiced 
his arts. He. claims that Lao-Tsz, from his importu- 
nities, condescended to appear to him, and imparted 
to him the true secrets necessary to his success. He 
commissioned him as a teacher of Heaven, and in- 
vested him with all necessary appliances to fulfill his 
mission. Books, charms, seals, swords of wonderful 
power, were given him. With these divine gifts he 



Doomed Eeligions. 317 

commenced to work miracles at the salt wells in Sz- 
Chwen. He returned to his old retreat in Lung-Hu, 
where he founded his order and his house, which have 
withstood the revolutions of dynasties eighteen hun- 
dred years, and produced sixty-one patriarchs to wield 
the magic sword of its founder. A large and beautiful 
district in the south-east of the Kiang-Si province was 
early set apart for their maintainance. Here twenty- 
four palaces for as many overseers were erected, a 
fine temple for the pope, and a palace and treasury 
for his private use. The twenty-four overseers were 
appointed as assistants — a cabinet of cardinals or 
bishops. These popes and their followers are men of 
families. Their revenues, although now considerable, 
are not what they were in other dynasties, so the pres- 
ent incumbent informed me, upon the occasion of a 
visit I paid him a few years ago. They make use of 
charmed writings and other efficacious devices to ex- 
pel noxious influences, demons, and monsters, over 
which they claim to have power. They are required 
to perform sacrifices for the royal family and the em- 
pire in all parts as occasion requires, to pray for rain 
and fair weather in times of famine and floods, and 
to protect the empire against all baneful influences. 
They are at times called upon by imperial mandate 
to visit foreign provinces to exorcise demons. Mem- 
bers of the family by imperial invitation have resided 
at Peking, to be near the person of the Sovereign. 



318 Taoism. 

Titles from time to time have been conferred upon 
them, and each dynasty determines the civil rank of 
the order. On occasions of state, or the reception of 
visitors, all their badges of office are paraded. They 
dwell upon a beautiful river surrounded by lofty 
mountains covered with forests. A populous town 
of the descendants of the first Teacher is just below 
the palace, and a little below a fine temple is pointed 
out where it is said the first Teacher lived, and a 
table-like mountain is shown where he is said to have 
ascended to heaven. In response to a letter of mine 
the present pope says their rite of exorcism is as fol- 
lows : " Concerning the repression and expulsion of 
imps, monsters, and such like, we take a letter or writ- 
ings and burn them, communicating orders to the 
(spirit) attendants, who give them to the official in 
attendance that day. He takes the letter or writings, 
and flies away and presents them to the Elder Heav- 
enly Teacher, who examines if genuine ; if so, he 
grants the request. Using his power, he appoints 
heavenly soldiers to execute his commands. If the 
affair be of great moment the pope bites his finger, 
and with the blood writes about ten words and burns 
them, and, as before, he orders the heavenly Servants 
to fly and present them to the Heavenly Teacher. If 
the important matters can be delayed, he, according 
to usage, states the case to the Pearly Emperor, (Yii 
Hwang Shang-Ti,) who will send down his imperial 



Doomed Religions. 319 

will to manage the case according to legal usage, or 
lay the matter before the supreme Lao-Tsz, who will 
examine and grant the request. As to the invoking 
of the spirit messengers, it is all confined to the 
ordering of the mind, the words of the mouth in 
chanting the litanies. Each Heavenly Teacher com- 
mits them to memory, and they cannot be divulged. 

The fourth order is called Fah-Men. These are 
mostly astrologers, fortune-tellers, and geomancers. 
They also pretend to have power over evil influences, 
epidemics, etc. They select burial and building sites, 
and are experts in Fung-Shui, non-celibates, and live 
as professionals. 

The fifth order is called Ko-Men, professional 
intercessors, who hang out signs as doctors, which 
read "MenChao," or " Chao-Men." This order is 
very numerous and intimately connected with the 
Heavenly Teachers. Each county and town has a 
head man who acts as overseer. Under these 
chiefs are followers, in one town frequently two or 
three hundred regularly licensed to practice or recite 
prayers, who are amenable to the chief, and he to the 
magistrate and the county overseer. These minor 
assistants have charge of certain sections, and a certain 
number of families, among whom they reside. They 
are men of families and engage in business, but are 
under appointment and considered by the government 
as a distinct class. They have robes suitable for their 



320 Taoism. 

office, liturgies, swords, seals, eyeliorns, magical blocks 
of wood (a few inches long, with charmed characters, 
a divinity with five clawed feet, holding a banner in 
the left hand, and a mystic roll in the right; he 
treads upon the thunder. Upon the opposite side are 
four great characters ascribed to the Heavenly Em- 
peror, and three mystical ones at the top. On the 
sides are pictured chain-lightning, etc.) These men 
hold themselves in readiness to go at the cal] of their 
several districts, to pray for the sick or the dead, and 
go at the call of their chiefs to other places to cele- 
brate great services which require several performers. 
These men are also called practicers of Yin and Tang 
(dualistic principles.) They receive so much per diem 
for services to the people, but by law are required to 
perform free services at stated intervals for the offi- 
cers in their district. This class is every- where, and 
their services are in constant demand. 

Doctrines. — There is no book, native or foreign, 
so far as I know, which gives a summary or digest of 
the doctrines held by the sect. The views I here 
present have been collected from various sources, 
works written by Taoist writers, such as histories, 
speculations of the philosophers, litanies, essays, 
hymns, and, introductions to works by scholars. 
Further research may greatly modify my present 
views, and, in presenting them, I do so with the 
consciousness of the impossibility of giving a lucid 



Taoism. 321 

statement of doctrines where the views of native 
writers are so divergent. A native writer, comment- 
ing upon a book which treats of the " Yellow Pal- 
ace," (heaven,) says, " I had the book in mind more 
than twenty years, but did not comprehend one char- 
acter of its meaning." If the task be so great to a 
native student, what must it be to a foreigner? 
Alas ! alas ! 

A Divine Being. — The primitive idea of such a 
being seems to have been an immaterial dualistic 
essence, united, forming what was anciently called 
Tao. It might be defined as the active principle of 
nature, a something pervading all creation, yet dis- 
tinct from it. A vague conception of a spiritual 
nature, or force, equal to a creator and providence. 
The Nan-Hwa-Kin, written by Chwang Tsz in the 
fifth century B. C, says, " Tao is without beginning 
and without end." The Tao-Tah-Kin says, " Tao is 
the hidden (element) of creation ; creation was pro- 
duced by it, and dependent upon it." The Yi says, 
" The Yin and the Yang are called Tao." We find 
the following : " The Great Tao is universal ; it may 
be upon the left and right ; the whole universe was 
produced by and is dependent upon it. If looked 
for, it is not visible ; its name is Yi, (colorless ;) if 
listened for, it is not heard ; its name is Hsi, (sound- 
less ;) if grasped after, it is not attainable ; its name 

is called Wei, (impalpable.") The early Jesuit writers 
21 



322 Doomed Religions. 

thought they found the word Jehovah in the three 
characters used in the above passage, namely, Yi, Hsi, 
"Wei, which, to my mind, merely describes three at- 
tributes of Tao. The great scholar Chii says, " The 
one Yin and the one Yang (dual principles of nature) 
are denominated Tao." 

Another writer says, " The Tao is eight, and the 
Yang Tao is nine. In that wonderful twenty-fifth 
chapter of the Tao-Tah-Kin, Tao is thus spoken of : 
' Before the heavens and earth existed there was a 
something complete in chaos, silent and solitary. It 
stood alone, and changed not. It circulated every- 
where without danger. It may be considered as the 
mother of the universe. Its name I know not. It 
is designated Tao. If a name is forced for it, we call 
it Great ; Great, we say it is ever-going ; ever-going, 
we say it is far off ; the far-off we say returns. 
Now, therefore, Tao is great, Heaven is great, Earth 
is great, a King is great. In the midst of the uni- 
verse there are four great, and the king is one of 
them. Man receives his law from the Earth, the 
Earth receives its law from Heaven, Heaven receives 
its law from Tao, Tao receives its law from Self. 
Tradition says the illustrious kings served the Tao of 
Heaven, founding (by it) their kingdoms and capi- 
tals." Tai Shi says, " Heaven makes plain the Tao." 
The commands of Chung Hwai are, " Revere the 
Tao of Heaven, who forever protects the decrees of 



Taoism. 323 

Heaven." The Yi-Chi-Kien-Kwa says, "Tao of 
Heaven succors and enlightens, Heaven's Tao lessens 
the overflowing and increases the incomplete." An- 
other writer says, " Observe, the Spirit Tao of 
Heaven and the four Seasons never err. The sages, 
by the Spirit Tao, founded the Church, and all un- 
der heaven served it." The Tsin Tsin says, " The 
Great Tao is without form, and heaven and earth 
exist by it. The Great Tao is passionless, and re^ 
volves the sun and moon. The Great Tao is name- 
less, it nourishes all creation." Chii says, " It is the 
governing principle of matter ; that which is above 
form we call Tao." The introduction to the Yi Kin 
says, " Tai Ki is Tao ; the dual powers, Yin and 
Yang, is the one Tao." " All things wait upon it 
for existence, and (it) refuses none." " It loves and 
nourishes all creation, and does not lord it over 
them." 

Sufficient has been quoted from these works to show 
the character of the Tao, the Eternal Tao, which is the 
central idea, around which revolves the philosophy 
of Taoism. It is evident they hold exalted ideas of 
an abstract being, essentially separate from creation, 
and yet pervading it in every part ; a Creator, a 
Providence, with a nature of love and compassion. 
It is a compound being, possessing a nature in con- 
formity with the views of the ancients, a dualism of 
essentially one essence. These hidden forces, in 



324 Doomed Religions. 

unity, moving every- where, were the germs of a trin- 
ity called Great Pure, High Pure, Pearly Pure. The 
highest idea of a personal God is the manifestation 
of Lao-Tsz, as incarnation of the Eternal Tao. The 
highest idea of a Providence, of a Supernatural 
Ruler, first of celestial beings, is in the person of 
Yii Hwang Shang-Ti. The fullest development of a 
Deity in all his manifestations is a trinity, consisting 
of a dual essence, called Tao, a creator, and revealer 
of Tao, called Tao-Chwen, a celestial emperor or ruler 
designated Yii Hwang Shang-Ti. 1. In this godhead 
consist all that is dark and subtle, unknown, and un- 
knowable, the nameless Tao. 2. The revealer, com- 
ing forth from Tao, the first-born of this silent nat- 
ure force, creating all things, called Lao-Tsz. 3. The 
honored of heaven, all-powerful, all-compassionate, 
ruler over celestial and terrestrial beings, called Hao- 
Tien Shang-Ti, whose vicegerent, the emperor, rules 
on earth. These three beings bear different titles by 
different writers. The titles of the two first are in- 
terchanged and frequently confused. One manual 
gives the following order and titles : 
. Tai-Shang-Tao-Chwen, Supreme Prince of Tao. 

Tai-Shang-Lao Chwen, Supreme Elder Prince. 

Kiu-Hwang-Shang-Chwen, Nine Imperial Supreme 
Divinity. 

Creation. — The theories of cosmogony are as varied 
as the writers who have taken in hand to write about 



Taoism. 325 

it. Some of the views held are puerile and ridicu- 
lous. It is said, All things are produced from exist- 
ence, and existence was produced (or evolved) from 
non-existence. Tao produced One, One produced 
Two, Two produced Three, and Three produced all 
things. Non-existence = Zero, was the primeval con- 
dition of the universe. A spirit-essence alone per- 
vaded space, formless, noiseless, impalpable. From 
this Spirit-essence was Tao, One. Tao One evolved 
Tao Two, and Two evolved Three. I have a book 
representing in crude drawings Non-existence, as it 
was previous to the union of the Yin and Yang, pro- 
ducing the first-born, or self-evolved, as he is called, 
Lao-Chwen. There are eighty-one of these drawings 
representing the successive manifestations or trans- 
formations of Tao-Chwen, (Lao-Tsz.) The first is an 
empty circle, surrounded by clouds, which is Non- 
Existence. The second is a circle, surrounded by 
clouds, with a diminutive cut of a cross-legged, arms- 
folded, naked ascetic, which is Lao-Tsz, the self- 
evolved god of the Taoists, the ancestor of the 
Church. The note appended to the first act of the 
drama is as follows : 

" Tai-Shang-Lao-Chwen was without beginning, 
his origin was without cause, he was before all Tao. 
He was the ancestor of all primary agency, (or first 
breaths.") 

This note leads me to think the Chinese faintly 



323 Doomed Religions. 

distinguish between Tao and Tao-Chwen. It would 
seem while Lao-Tsz or Tao-Chwen discourses in the 
Tao-Tah-Kin about the Eternal Tao, he is speaking of 
his condition as the dualistic Tao standing, as it here 
says, before all Tao. The note to the second trans- 
formation is Tai-Shang-Lao-Chwen in the center of 
great vacuity, united his breath (or primary agency) 
and contracted to a genii, or a true being, taking to 
himself personality. The third act evolves the trin- 
ity, here called Lao-Chwen, Tao-Chwen, and I T uon- 
Shi-Tien-Tsen. The trinity appears high in the 
heavens in the fourth transformation, connected by 
spiritual currents, or rays of light, to Lao-Tsz, in the 
midst of the new-created world. Thus creation pro- 
ceeds. Lao-Chwen stands at the head of the Church, 
invisible and visible, the everlasting teacher of men ; 
a spiritual being, too exalted to attend to the govern- 
ment of the universe. He delegates as his represen- 
tative the Pearly Great One, the lofty Shang-Ti of 
the Abyss Mother. In these various transformations 
he unfolds the Church among all the nations of the 
Earth. 

A Devil. — They believe in a malignant spirit, a 
devil, called Mo, or Mo-Kwei. He is sometimes 
spoken of as the ancestor of devils. He and his 
emissaries frequently appear in the disguise of ser- 
pents, beasts, and frequently as beautiful women, and 
are then called Wai Mo, Sieh Mo, Tien Mo. When 



Taoism. 327 

as an invisible tempter, appealing to our passions 
and leading us into sin, he is called Yin Mo. It is 
said in one book that anciently Shi Tsen sat under a 
bo-tree, and Po-Sien, the king of devils, led a million 
of devils, etc. 

Chii, the philosopher, says there is a something 
which ever acts upon man, and the good and bad 
men are always fluctuating ; on every side are trans- 
gressors. This something tempts man forever. 

Some Taoist writers speak of his presence as the 
measure of the Yin, (female principle.) One says, 
If we look not for him, he looks not at us ; if we do 
not listen for him, he listens not for us. He is thus 
able to act upon us if we have evil thoughts, and is 
expelled by their purity. All evil spirits are devils, 
and the chief of devils is so as a leader only. There 
are faint indications of an antagonism within the Yin 
and Yang, (dual principles ;) the Yin, or female prin- 
ciple, is the evil, dark one, while the Yang, or male 
principle, is the good, and bright one. This will ex- 
plain, in a measure, the degraded position woman 
holds in China, and the terrible punishments that 
await her in the future world. 

Man. — The creation of man is shrouded in mys- 
tery. The golden age is in the hoary past, when he 
was a semi-god. The problem of life remains un- 
solved. The fall of man by sin is unrecognized. 
The explanation offered for the presence of sin is a 



328 Doomed Eeligions. 

matter of education merely. Man is born good, or, 
rather, neutral, neither good or bad. Lao-Tsz held 
that man is good, and if he avoids the snares of the 
world, and acts in conformity with the pure instincts 
of his nature, he would possess Tao, and eventually 
return home to Tao, the consummation or perfection 
of human life. It is the wisdom of this world, it is 
the knowledge of good and evil, which is the ruin of 
man. Lieh-Tsz seems to hold a slightly different 
view — the soul is pure, but the body is corrupt. 

" The governing principle of life is that it must 
have an end ; its end is inevitable. We always covet 
this life, and mark its end, and are led astray in our 
computation. 

" The spiritual (of life) is the appointment of 
Heaven, the material is the apportioned of Earth. 
That which pertains to Heaven is pure and uncon- 
fined, that which belongs to the Earth is corrupt and 
contracted. The immaterial spirits, departing from 
their bodies, each returns to its genii, or divine 
home." 

The Yellow Emperor says, "The soul, or imma- 
terial, enters its door, (Heaven ;) the material returns 
to its root. I, therefore, should preserve (it.)" 
" Man, from birth to death, has four great transfor- 
mations — infancy, early manhood, old age, death. In 
infancy the feelings accord and are one with the will, 
and there is the most perfect harmony. Worldly 



Taoism. 329 

objects do not wound the infant, and he is perfect 
in virtue. In manhood the carnal nature is supreme, 
the desires and anxieties are full to the brim, the 
world smites him, and, therefore, his virtue fails. 
In the time of old age his desires and anxieties are 
weaker, the body is decaying, and worldly matters 
are no longer in the ascendant ; although he never 
reaches the perfection of infancy. In the fullness 
of manhood, should he perish, then he shall rest in 
peace." 

We are held to be exposed to evil influences, which 
overcome the virtue which is in us by nature. 

Soul. — The origin and destiny of the immaterial 
nature of man has been discussed, and many are the 
speculations thereon by the Mongolian. His ideas 
are in keeping with his other religious views, and 
quite as divergent in their conclusions as there are 
writers. Unaided by revelation, the Chinese mind 
has advanced beyond most people in formulating 
definite ideas respecting the soul and immortality. 
In fact, her generally accepted beliefs have passed 
into the proverbs of the people, and the least edu- 
cated speak familiarly of the conclusions arrived at 
by Taoist and other philosophers. We are taught 
that the soul is a trinity, existing in harmony with 
the septimal animal spirits, a partnership entered up- 
on at birth, and severed at death ; the immaterial 
consisting of three parts, and the material of seven. 



330 Doomed Religions. 

The three parts, called Tsin, Ki, Shen, united, make 
the Hwen, or Lin Hwen, or Ku Shen. The Confu- 
cianists denominate it Shii-Lin. Sometimes these 
three parts are spoken of as three souls, and they say 
one goes to heaven, or purgatory, at death, one goes 
into the grave, while the third enters the tablet. 
Again, others hold that the three, united, go to 
heaven, or purgatory, as the soul may have lived, 
while the animal spirits, answering to the five senses 
and limbs, descend, and are ghosts. The three hwen 
and seven pah are distinct from the body. The Tao- 
Tah-Kin says, " The immaterial spirit never dies." 
Another work says, " The Taoists denominate the 
soul Ku-Shen — literally, valley spirit ; the Confucian- 
ists, Shii Sin ; and the Buddhists, Kin Kan ; while 
among the common class, Sin." Again it is said that, 
upon the death of the body, the hwen and pah re- 
volve or roam about. The heart that has practiced 
the true is a shen, or good spirit ; the heart that has 
practiced the untrue is called a kwei, or evil spirit. 
The soul is capable of all shapes. "While the shen 
remains we live, when it departs we die. A man 
dying, although he casts off the material, the lin 
hwen lives even as before. The spirit is without 
bodily form. That which is not destroyed by death 
is the sin lin — dying and living again ; those that do 
good and practice Tao pass into the palace of heaven. 
Hwang Pin says we received our material nature from 



Taoism. 331 

father and mother, while an atom of Tsin Ki — pure 
breath — and'' Shen — spirit — is received from Heaven. 
The Shen returns and enters Heaven, the Ki returns 
to Heaven, the Tsin goes to Heaven. Lieh Tsz 
says, "The immaterial spirit is the appointed of 
Heaven, the body the apportioned of Earth ; that 
which is undestroyed by death is the lin-hwen." 
The "Wu-Tao-Lao says, "Be regardful of the chen- 
lin — true spirit — as of a precious pearl." " The an- 
cients laid up their treasures in Heaven ; how could, 
then, any thing injure them ? The soul is capable 
of self -Regeneration, and attains to an eternal state of 
bliss, amenable to law, and subject to rewards and 
punishments. 

Heaven and Purgatory. — The Chinese have a 
heaven and a reformatory Hades or purgatory. There 
are nine grades of heaven, and the same number of 
purgatories, under rulers to reward and punish. It 
is said the Great Fu-Hsi regenerated himself and 
returned to heaven. Heaven is the dwelling-place 
of Buddhas, Holies, and Immortals. " It is the per- 
fection of all that is precious, with most beautiful 
scenery; each heaven is different; the inhabitants 
wear clothes, and crowns with ribbon ties, brocades 
of many colors, and strange silks, with insignia of 
rank, as they could desire. The laws are fixed, pro- 
pitious clouds surround ; they, seated upon eight lotus 
pillars, are waited upon by golden boys and pearl 



332 Doomed Religions. 

girls. They feed upon marvelous fruits of tlie genii, 
and drink wonderful liquors. It is pure and unlike 
the earth, dusty and filled with dirt; a country of 
purity, a world of infinite joys, impossible of descrip- 
tion. The three highest heavens are called Hsien, 
Yuon, Shi. It is called the True Mansion, the Tel- 
low Palace. It the dwelling-place of spirits. The 
spirits are pure, white as snow, effulgent as the sun. 
Those that come to the Yellow Palace are as great 
princes, and sit upon thrones. It is called the square 
inch, all nations are guests, and shall receive everlast- 
ing blessing. Those that do good and reforfn them- 
selves attain to heaven. Heaven and purgatory 
have two roads, merit and demerit are apportioned, 
good and evil are distinct, the reward of merit is 
complete. It is the joyful kingdom of great peace. 
There are great palaces in every quarter of heaven. 
The Pearly Emperor diffuses his presence to all the 
palaces. Its capitol is of white pearls, and the gates 
of gold. Purgatory is a place of torments indescrib- 
able, and the women occupy the lowest quarters in 
the Lake of Blood. The prisoners of Hades are sub- 
ject to tortures ; they are sawn asunder, broken upon 
wheels, tied to red-hot pillars. Serpents entwine 
around them, they are cast headlong from pillars," 
etc., too terrible to mention. 

Transmigration. — This dogma is taught, but not 
so generally as with the Buddhists. There is a faint 



Taoism. 333 

trace of this belief in the fiftieth chapter of the Tao- 
Tah-Kin. The good with the Taoists are not subject 
to this order, but go directly to heaven. This doc- 
trine seems more a Buddhist idea than Taoist. 

Redemption. — There are faint allusions to a scheme 
equivalent to a redemption or restoration of the dead. 
All in the six paths are to be released, all the nine 
hades are to give up their victims, through the in- 
finite mercy of Yu Hwang. There is a scene in 
heaven; the barefooted genii, with all the hosts of 
gods, genii, and holies, prostrate themselves before 
his awful presence. They state the condition of the 
lost, who have suffered long kalpas of punishment. 
The Emperor of Heaven listens, and is moved with 
compassion, and gives a commission to the barefooted 
genii to release them. He descends again and breaks ' 
the glad news, rays of heavenly light penetrate their 
dark abodes, and by the fiat of the Pearly Emperor 
they are born into heaven, where they suffer no 
more. Thus the Taoists are really restorationists. 

Resurrection. — The dogma of metamorphosis is 
taught, and the doctrine of the resurrection of the 
body by one writer only, and this is in the Yu Hwang 
Kin. It says, At that time the gods breath (Yu 
Hwang) is manifested afar off and pervades every- 
where. Heaven quakes and the earth rends, dry 
bones spring into life, corpses and spirits hasten to- 
gether and repossess their forms. Tophet, wdth its 



334 Doomed Religions. 

iron inclosure, and the long night of the nine hades 
are at once demolished, and the suffering souls are 
born into all the heavens. 

Repentance is taught, and urged in tracts sent out 
through the country by ascetics or reformers. Some 
are in prose, others in verse. Repentance is self- 
wrought work, and consists chiefly in more outlay 
for the gods, and more prayers said by professionals. 
There is a considerable class of men who seem, as 
far as they have light, to be honestly endeavoring to 
reform their lives, and mostly so by abstinence, and 
are called Yegetarians. 

Prayer and Sacrifice. — Prayers and sacrifices are 
as old as the people. Worship of some character 
was prevalent, as we see from all ancient writings. 
* Services of an elaborate character must have been 
common long before Lao-Tsz time. Great attention 
was paid to the rites of the worship offered. "Al- 
though our ancestors are distant the sacrifices must 
not be imperfect. It is the preparation of the an- 
cestral temple, it is the arrangement of the clothing 
at the time of the eating of the oblations. The cere- 
monies observed in the worship of the state gods was 
then in honor of Shang-Ti. The ceremonies which 
were in use in the ancestral temple were offerings 
made to the departed ones." Plainly, the ceremonies 
of the worship of the state gods was that which was 
proper in the worship of the imperial ancestors twice 



Taoism. 335 

each year. The ceremonies which were performed 
at birth and the rites at the burial of the dead were 
the rites of sacrifice." Mencius says, "Although a 
wicked man shall abstain from animal food, (hold 
fast,) then he may worship Shang-Ti." " Pour out 
the libations in the highest place (capitol.) The 
service for the dead is the same as for the living; 
the sacrifice for the lost as for the saved." Much 
depended upon posture, clothing, and purification of 
the person previous to the offering. We find the 
same, or quite similar, regulations to-day among the 
Taoists ; manuals of prayer for every conceivable 
case. Some of these chants or prayers are elevated 
in style, and eloquent in ascription of praise to the 
gods. The following is a specimen of directions 
how to make preparation for prayer: " Whoever 
takes in hand to chant this classic, he must first fast, 
bathe, put on proper clothing ; he shall offer incense, 
sit correctly, meditate upon the gods, as if present ; 
afterward chant in an even and distinct voice. You 
must not err in the words, sentences, the sound and 
rhythm, or meter. Your hands must be clean in turn- 
ing the leaves, honor it, and be exceedingly careful. 
Regulate the breath." Great respect is given to the 
manual itself. Then nature is addressed or invoked : 
" Tremble and reverberate, veined jades (precious 
stones) and white coral. Let the whole creation (ten 
quarters) be reverent ; let the rivers and oceans be 



336 Doomed Religions. 

silent, and the mountain peaks swallow up the 
clouds." The spirits are addressed : " Let the 
spirits with reverence bow low. Assemble all the 
genii (Taoist saints.) Heaven shall not be malig- 
nant ; Earth's dreadful portents shall have an end. 
Space shall be clear, and its deep recesses shall un- 
derstand ; let it be made known to the Pearly Capi- 
tal." Offerings are made, and the gods' blessings are 
invoked. 

Influence. — Taoism has afforded a sinuous outlet 
for the religious and superstitious feelings of the 
people. Confucianism is too formal and irreligious 
to, in any considerable degree, meet the wants of the 
masses.' Famines invade the land ; plagues come 
with revengeful fury ; sickness and death cover the 
land; wailing and distress seize upon millions of 
homes. The souls of the more reverent sorrow 
for a balm, for some talisman, for their woes. Such 
thoughts, though buried deep in their spiritual nat- 
ures, begin to germinate in their sorrows and be- 
reavements, and where shall they find nourishment 
for growth ? Surely not in atheistical Confucianism ! 
Ancestral worship is too confined for all their sor- 
rows. Confucianism offers no panaceas for the re- 
ligious convictions of distressed souls ;' no hope of a 
better future inspires longing souls after immortal- 
ity. A wail of despair is thrown back from the 
lofty heights of its philosophy ; no promised land of 



Taoism. 837 

beauty peers through its mists ; no rivers of living 
waters flow onward to the ocean of eternity; there 
are no green mountains packed with fairy-like gorges 
to encourage the fainting traveler in his journey. 
Taoism, on the other hand, echoes — with smothered 
voice though it be — whispers from the spirit world. 
In its religious philosophy there is a beyond, fairer 
and more perfect than the present. She undertakes 
to smooth man's thorny path on earth, and promises 
him, if obedient to her teachings, a world of blessed- 
ness. She attempts to meet or minister to the China- 
man's wants from birth to death. Charms of every 
description are in vogue, worn upon the individual, 
posted in the houses, upon their doors, in their 
streets, by the road-sides. Litanies of hundreds of 
prayers of supposed divine efficacy are every-where 
used for sick, dying, and dead. Holy mountains 
filled with spiritual influences are ready for the as- 
cetic loving ones panting for seclusion from a wicked 
world. Idols and temples to meet the fancy of the 
learned and ignorant, rich and poor, devout and ir- 
reverent, are every-where; priests for every emer- 
gency. Tracts are scattered by oath-bound hands 
broadcast over the land. Every portent and sign is 
made use of to excite and move the people to relig- 
ious reverence. What China would have been with- 
out Taoist philosophy and its religious rites is impos- 
sible to say. Its molding influence has been more 
22 



338 Doomed Keligions. 

negative than positive. The corruptions and super- 
stitions of the people have had quite as much to do 
in shaping its course as it has had in molding their 
beliefs. It has been a medium through which a fear 
and respect to some extent for the spirit world has 
been maintained. In some of its developments it 
has led the people into the greatest absurdities. Its 
past and present influence among the people cannot 
be gainsayed. All the national gods are under its 
magical wing. Nearly all the sacrifices of the land, 
divination, exorcism, are held as their patrimony. 
Her influence from the "dragon's throne" to the 
meanest hovel is recognized and felt. 

But this religion, native to the soil, although a 
shade-tree to every door, is sere and ready to decay. 
Its weird and grotesque growth stands palsied in the 
presence of true education and religion. A greater 
than Lao-Tsz is speaking to hundreds of thousands 
of China's sons. Her classics, litanies, hymns, are 
silent in the presence of the truer and purer philoso- 
phy of Christ. Her day is at hand, and her sons will 
cut it down and bury it out of sight forever. With 
the advent of Western commerce, true science, and 
Christianity, circumstances beyond the control of the 
emperor have brought new and potent factors into 
play — mighty forces which refuse to be absorbed or 
be greatly neutralized. And they have come none 
too soon to arouse effectively a decaying people, and 



Taoism. 339 

give them a new lease of life under healthier condi- 
tions. With some exalted maxims equal to those 
found in any heathen religion, there is a corruptness 
and dissoluteness among the present followers of Tao 
fearful to contemplate. Her temples, for the most 
part, are dens of vice, where vicious men gather for 
gaming and opium-smoking. No enlightened men 
arise to reform and bring it into harmony with the 
new departures of the country, as among the Bud- 
dhists of Japan. With Christianity, true science, 
and free intercommunication with the outside world, 
Taoism is doomed, and will fall with a crash, for its 
central pillars rest upon the gross superstitions of 
the people. Then, let true science undermine its 
substructure, and true religion embrace in her out- 
stretched arms the yearning after a better faith. 



340 Doomed Keligions. 



S H I N T I S M.* 



BY EEV. B. S. MACLAY, D.D., 

SUPERINTENDENT OP THE JAPAN MISSION OP THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH. 

I. Origin and Development. 

THE term Slrintoism is used by writers on Japan 
to indicate those religious ideas and practices of 
the Japanese which, originating during the mythical 
age of the nation, and modified subsequently by the 
introduction into Japan of the tenets of Buddhism 
and the Confucian philosophy, have never entirely 
lost their identity, and, with varying degrees of po- 
tency, have continued even to the present time to in- 
fluence the thought and character of the Japanese. 
The term is derived from the Japanese Shinto, a 
word which sinologues will at once recognize as of 
Chinese origin, being composed of Shin, or Sin, as it 
is sometimes pronounced, signifying god, gods, divine; 

* This religious device, for it is nothing more, is found chiefly in 
Japan, where, with Buddhism, it shares the arena against advancing 
Christianity. There are in this country some seventy-six thousand 
Shinto officials and priests, and one hundred and twenty-eight thou- 
sand Shinto shrines. Buddha is somewhat stronger, having in Japan 
nearly two hundred and eight thousand priests and monks, and ninety 
thousand temples, while the adherents of Shintoism only number 
about one fourth the number of Buddhists. 



Shintoism. 341 

and To, meaning a way, doctrine, teaching, etc. The 
pure Japanese term to indicate the religious ideas and 
practices, to which we have just referred, is Kami no 
michi, signifying the doctrine or doctrines of god or 
gods. 

With regard to the origin of pure Shintoism — that 
is, Shintoism free from any admixture of Buddhism 
or Confucianism — the opinions of scholars who have 
investigated the subject do not entirely harmonize. 
Some believe it to be an original and independent 
development of Japanese thought and experience ; 
while others suppose it was derived from the early 
religious notions of the Chinese. In the absence 
of reliable evidence, it is difficult to reach positive 
convictions in reference to the amount of influence 
which the confessedly more ancient religious ideas of 
the Chinese exerted in suggesting and developing the 
primitive notions of the Japanese on the same general 
subject. If there were historical documents, or even 
reliable tradition, to show, or make it probable, that 
during the mythical age of Japan, when the first re- 
ligious notions and worship of the Japanese originat- 
ed, there was intercourse between the two nations, 
it would be practicable to accept the theory which 
recognizes China as an important and original factor 
in the development of the primitive religious faith 
of the Japanese. It is admitted by all who have 
given attention to the subject that, at a later period, 



342 Doomed Religions. 

the language, literature, and institutions, social and 
political, of the Chinese exerted a powerful influence 
on Japan. To this source may be attributed the gen- 
eral features of the government, laws, and civilization 
of Japan, together with some traits in the personal 
character of the Japanese. But during the ancient 
period to which we have referred, there is not, as far 
as we know, any evidence whatever of intercourse 
between China and Japan ; and, consequently, we are 
not authorized to attribute the origin of Shintoism to 
the early religious notions of the Chinese. Certain 
similarities as to mode of worship, kinds of sacrifices, 
offerings, etc., noticed in pure Shintoism, and in the 
ancient religious practices of the Chinese, have been 
adduced in support of the Chinese origin of Shinto- 
ism ; and the circumstance that the term Shinto is 
itself derived from a Chinese source is supposed by 
some to give additional support to the theory now 
before us. But after estimating these considerations 
at their full value, it is impossible to accept them as 
conclusive or convincing evidence on the point we are 
considering. There have been found in the religious 
ideas and modes of worship of all nations certain feat- 
ures of resemblance; and those which have been 
noted as common to Shintoism and the early relig- 
ious worship of the Chinese, while interesting and 
pertinent as evidence to support the unity of the hu- 
man race, are not more numerous or important than 



Shintoism. 343 

those which have been discovered in forms of relig- 
ions worship which confessedly have never influenced 
each other in their early stages of development. The 
Chinese origin of the term Shinto is satisfactorily 
explained by the circumstance that, after their adop- 
tion of the Chinese written language, the Japanese 
gave Chinese names to almost every thing. Shinto- 
ism, on the other hand, represents so accurately the 
character of the Japanese, as presented in the earliest 
records of history, accords so completely with their 
recognized instincts and antecedents, and in so many 
ways reflects, in its details, their idiosyncrasies, that, 
with our present light on the subject, we are quite 
disposed to accept the theory which assigns the origin 
of the system to a Japanese source, and regards the 
original features of the system as the spontaneous 
outgrowth of Japanese experience and observation. 
It is certain, however, that while, in its original incep- 
tion and early development, Shintoism was entirely 
of Japanese origin, the in-coming of Confucianism 
and Buddhism from China modified, in some impor- 
tant respects, the original system ; so that the Shinto- 
ism of modern times, called impure Shintoism, dif- 
fers widely from what is designated the pure Shinto- 
ism of the primitive age. 

The materials for the study of Shintoism, while 
not all that could be desired, are yet sufficient to en- 
able the student to ascertain the leading principles 



344 Doomed Religions. 

and the more prominent features of the system ; and 
to estimate, with a fair degree of accuracy, its power 
to elevate and purify mankind. Among the materials 
now accessible, w r e may mention the existing Shinto 
temples, (Miya,) shrines, etc, together with their re- 
galia, liturgical forms, prayers, etc., which in some 
places have been preserved almost in their original 
purity ; the historical writings, commentaries, etc., 
referring to this subject, which have been handed 
down from ancient times ; the writings of the modern 
school of Japanese writers who are attempting to re- 
vive and restore the pure Shintoism of primitive 
times ; and, lastly, the productions of western scholars, 
as Satow, Ashton, Griffis, and others, who have de- 
voted much time to the study of the system. The 
temples at Ise, in Watarai, are the best specimens of 
the genuine Shinto temple to be found in Japan ; and 
a very full and interesting description of them, by 
Ernest Satow, Esq., of the British Legation in Japan, 
is published in the u Transactions of the Asiatic So- 
ciety of Japan," 1 873-74. The Japanese works which 
treat of this subject are the Kojiki, which has been 
called the Shinto Bible ; the Manyoshin, containing 
specimens of ancient poetry, the Nihongi, a history 
of Japan ; the Norito, a liturgical work ; and the com- 
mentaries, which have been written on the foregoing 
books. The modern school of Japanese writers, who 
are putting forth efforts to revive Shintoism, com- 



Shintoism. 345 

prises scholars such as Mabuchi, (A. D. 1697-1769,) 
Motoori, (1730-1801,) Hirata, (1776-1843,) and Kada, 
(1669-1736,) all of whom were men of high literary 
reputation, and thoroughly interested in the great 
task they undertook. The foregoing lists are not 
exhaustive; the names of only the more prominent 
books and writers have been given. It must be ad- 
mitted, however, that the literature of Shintoism is 
not very extensive or profound. There is no evidence 
that it ever powerfully impressed the national spirit 
or evoked the enthusiasm of its votaries, as some 
other systems of religion have done in Asia and 
elsewhere. Notwithstanding the statements and ref- 
erences to the subject contained in the works we 
have named, it is, nevertheless, true that one searches 
in vain through Japanese literature for any Shinto 
writings similar to the Classics of Confucianism, the 
Sutras of Buddhism, and the Koran of Mohammed- 
anism, The system has never had a founder, prophet, 
or historian. At the same time it should be stated, 
it is only within a comparatively recent period that 
western scholars have enjoyed the privilege of access 
to the literature of Japan ; that the portions of it 
placed within their reach have not yet been exhaust- 
ively treated ; and that there may be concealed or 
forgotten by the Japanese some important produc- 
tions which, when brought to light, will modify our 
views with regard to this subject. 



346 Doomed Keligions. 

To the inquiry, What is Shintoism ? it is not easy, 
for the reasons already briefly indicated, to give a 
perfectly satisfactory reply. The question, like most 
other questions, is more readily asked than answered. 
We may, perhaps, as well state at the outset that an 
examination of the Shinto literature discloses the fact 
that Shintoism has no moral code, enunciates no 
clearly drawn distinction between right and wrong, 
presents no authoritative statement or illustration of 
the principles of morality, and does not, in fact, en- 
ter seriously upon the discussion of any ethical sub- 
jects. And yet were we to infer from the preceding 
statements that the Japanese are wholly destitute of 
virtue ; that they are utterly defective in what may 
be termed the moral faculty ; that they are entirely 
indifferent to moral distinctions ; and are incapable 
of appreciating the force of moral considerations, the 
inferences would be misleading and erroneous. 

While we may not be prepared to assent to the 
view of this subject naively advanced by the Japa- 
nese writer, (Motoori,) to the effect " that morals were 
invented by the Chinese because they are an immoral 
people ; but that in Japan there is no necessity for 
a system of morals, since every Japanese will always 
do right if he only consults his own heart ;" we are 
at the same time fully satisfied, from personal inter- 
course and acquaintance with the Japanese, that they 
are not ignorant of or insensible to the monitions of 



Shintoism. 347 

conscience ; that, to a certain extent, they recognize 
the authority and defer to such internal monitions ; 
and that, taken as a people, their character compares 
favorably with that of any other unevangelized peo- 
ple with whom we have become acquainted. " These ? 
having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which 
show the work of the law written in their hearts, 
their conscience also bearing witness, and their 
thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing 
one another/' 

II. Shinto Cosmology and Mythology. 
While it is claimed for the Japanese traditions, 
which have been handed down to us from ancient 
times, that they are veritable history, or that it is 
possible, in all cases, to weave them into a consistent 
and credible narrative, we think it may be asserted 
that these traditions furnish reasonable grounds for 
the belief that Shintoism, in its primitive form, was 
an independent and original production of the Japa- 
nese mind. According to the statements on these sub- 
jects given in the Kojiki, which presents the purely 
Japanese, as distinguished from the Chino-Japanese 
accounts contained in the Nihongi, the ancient Japa- 
nese, unlike the Chinese, and indeed unlike all the 
other great nations of Asia, made no effort to solve 
the mystery of the original Being, or of the first 
great creative act ; elaborated no dualistic theory to 



348 Doomed Eeligions. 

account for the existence of evil, and asserted their 
individuality by ascribing masculine qualities to the 
moon, while feminine are predicated of the sun. The 
severe plainness of their temples and shrines, the ex- 
treme simplicity of their worship, the distinct recog- 
nition of sin and guilt, and the consequent necessity 
for personal purification, are also striking features of 
pure Shintoism. As illustrative of the statements 
just presented, we proceed to give some extracts from 
Japanese books which treat of these subjects. 

The Kojiki somewhat abruptly commences at once 
its own historical narrative, and the Shinto cosmog- 
ony, by the statement : 

"At the time of the beginning of heaven and 
earth there existed three hashira-gami, (pillar gods.) 
The name of one god, or kami, was Ame-no-waka- 
nushi-no-kami, (god of the middle of heaven ;) the 
second was named Taka-mi-musubi-no-kami, (the high 
procreating god ;) the name of the third was Kami-mi- 
musubi-no-kami, (ineffable procreating god.) These 
three, existing single, hid their bodies, (died.) Then, 
when the young land floated, like oil moving about, 
there came into existence, sprouting upward like the 
ashi, (rush,) a god named Umaji-ashikabi-kihoji-no- 
kami, who was succeeded by another, called Ame-no- 
toko-tachi-no-kami. These two chief gods, existing 
single, hid their bodies, and were followed," etc.* 

* See quotation in " Mikado's Empire," p. 43. 



Shintoism. 349 

It is true, that after the in-coming of the Confu- 
cian philosophy, the Japanese cosmogony was more 
artistically constructed, and many terms of Chinese 
origin were introduced, concerning which Mr. Mo- 
toori, the modern Shinto writer already referred to, 
proceeds to say : 

" The negative and positive essences, and the heav- 
enly and earthly modes, were philosophic terms ut- 
terly unknown to the ancient Japanese, and are the 
inventions of ignorant men, who, instead of accepting 
with faith the true traditions which have been handed 
down from the beginning of time, endeavor to dis- 
cover explanations for what man, with his limited 
intelligence, can never comprehend. The deities 
referred to as having been produced by the working 
of the heavenly and earthly modes, came into exist- 
ence by the spirits of Taka-mi-musubi-no-kami and 
Kami-mi-musubi-no-kami. "What the process was is 
beyond our ken ; we have only to accept the fact. 
To call Izanagi-no-kami the Positive Deity, and Ir- 
anami-no-kami, the Negative Deity, as the Nihongi 
does, is to make use of terms which are entirely for- 
eign to the Japanese language, which would have 
called them Male Deity and Female Deity. The 
effect of this Chinese phraseology is to cause men 
to believe that Izanagi-no-kami and Izanami-no-kami 
are abstract principles, whereas they are living pow- 
ers. A proof, if one were needed, that the terms 



350 Doomed Religions. 

Positive Essence and Negative Essence were im- 
ported from abroad, lies in the fact that, according 
to the ancient traditions, the Sun-deity is female, and 
the Moon-deity is male, which is in diametrical oppo- 
sition to the Chinese theory, according to which the 
sun is male, or positive, and the moon female, or 
negative." * 

The Shinto genesis of the world we inhabit is con- 
tained in the sentence found in the Kojiki : " In the 
beginning of heaven and earth the soil floated about 
like a fish floating on the top of the water." A 
more ornate account, tinged by Chinese philosophy, 
says: 

" The first manifestation of the male essence was 
Izanagi ; of the female, Izanami. Standing together 
on the floating bridge of heaven, the male plunged 
his jeweled spear, or falchion, into the unstable wa- 
ters beneath them, and, withdrawing it, the trickling 
drops formed an island, upon which they descended. 
The creative pair, or divine man and woman, design- 
ing to make this island a pillar for a continent, sep- 
arated — the male to the left, the female to the right 
— to make a journey round the island. At their 
meeting, the female spirit spoke first, saying, 6 How 
joyful to meet a lovely man ! ' The male spirit, of- 
fended that the first use of the tongue had been by 
a woman, required the circuit to be repeated. On 

* See " Revival of Pure Shinto," by Mr. Satow, p. 22. 



Shintoism. 351 

their second meeting the man cried out, i How joyful 
to meet a lovely woman ! ' They were the first 
couple, and this was the beginning of the art of love 
and of the human race." * 

Another legend is to the effect that " the Sun-god- 
dess spoke to the god of the sea (some say Moon- 
goddess) as follows : 

"<I have heard that there is a food-possessing 
goddess in the central country of luxuriant reedy 
moors, (Japan :) go and see.' Descending from 
heaven, he came to the august abode of the food- 
possessing goddess, and asked for food. The god- 
dess, creating various forms of food, such as boiled 
rice from the land, fish from the sea, and beasts, 
with fine and coarse hair, from the hills, set them on 
a banqueting-table before the Sea-god, who, enraged 
at the manner of the creation of the food, killed her. 
Eeporting the matter in heaven, the Sun-goddess be- 
came very angry at the Sea-god, and remained se- 
cluded from him for one day and one night. The 
Sun-goddess then, a second time, sent a messenger to 
see whether the Food-goddess was really dead. This 
was found to be the case. Out of the dead body 
were growing millet on the forehead, silk-worms and 
a mulberry-tree on the eyebrows, grass on the eyes ; 
on the belly, rice, barley, and large and small beans. 
The head finally changed into a cow and horse. The 

* " Mikado's Empire," p. 44. 



352 Doomed Keligions. 

messenger took them all, and presented them to the 
Sun-goddess. She rejoiced, and ordained that these 
should be the food of human beings, setting apart 
rice as the seed of the watery fields, and the other 
cereals as the seed of the dry fields. She also ap- 
pointed lords of the villages of heaven, and began 
for the first time to plant the rice-seeds. In the 
autumn the drooping ears ripened in luxuriant abun- 
dance. She planted the mulberry-trees on the four 
great hills of heaven, and rearing silk-worms, and 
chewing the cocoons in her mouth, spun thread. 
Thus began the arts of agriculture, silk-worm rearing, 
and weaving." * 

It is extremely difficult, if not quite impossible, to 
arrange the numerous, and at times contradictory, 
traditions concerning the creation, which have been 
transmitted to us from ancient times, in a coherent 
and consistent narrative. According to these tradi- 
tions matter preceded spirit in the order of being. 
The first vision that opens to the eye of the ancient 
seer is that of chaos, on the surface of which floated 
our world "like a fish in water, or the yolk in 
an egg." Subsequently the heavens and the earth 
were formed ; and from the latter (not from the 
heavens) sprang the race of gods, originally sexless 
and self -begotten. Through how long a period these 
gods existed we have no information. The simple 

* "Mikado's Empire," p. 49. 



Shintoism. 353 

statement is that the first three pillar-gods hid their 
bodies ; and were succeeded by two other gods, who 
also, in due time, hid their bodies, and were followed 
by three others ; prominent among whom was Kuni- 
tako-tachi-no-mikoto. These also give place to others, 
in apparently interminable succession, until finally 
appear Izanagi and Izanami, the divine pair, said to 
be the progenitors of the human race. Among these 
imaginary beings, which figure most prominently in 
the ancient Japanese mythology, are Amaterasu-o- 
mi-kami (Sun-goddess,) Tsuki-no-kami (Moon-god,) 
Kamu-haya-susa-noo-no-mikoto, (Sea-god,) and Uke- 
mochi-no-kami, (Food-goddess.) During the clos- 
ing cycles of the mythological period heaven and 
earth are inhabited by myriads of gods, whose jeal- 
ousies and contentions present scenes of the wildest 
turmoil and confusion. At last the Sun-goddess, 
weary of the strife, determines to exert her power to 
restore peace and harmony. After many unsuccess- 
ful efforts to find an agent qualified for the stu- 
pendous undertaking, the Sun-goddess selected her 
grandson, Amatsu-hiko-ho-no-ninigi-no-mikoto, and 
committing to him many treasures, chief of which 
were the mirror, the sword, and the stone or seal, she 
commanded him to accomplish the work. Attended 
by many inferior gods of both sexes, Ninigi-no-mikoto 
descended by the floating bridge of heaven to the 
mountain called Kirigama, situated in the island of 
23 



354: Doomed Keligions. 

Kiusliu between the provinces of Hiuga and Ozami. 
It is said that after his descent, the sun and earth, 
which had already receded from each other to a con- 
siderable distance, became more widely separated, 
thus cutting off the communication between heaven 
and earth. Having descended on Kiriyama, Ninigi- 
no-mikoto was received with due honors by one of the 
kami (gods) of the mountain. " He had a son who 
lived five hundred and eighty years. This son mar- 
ried a sea monster, who appeared to him in the form 
of a woman, and by her he had a son, who became 
ruler, and, in turn, was succeeded by a son born of 
an aunt. Ninigi-no-mikoto, the heavenly descendant, 
was thus the great-grandfather of Jimmu Tenno, the 
first emperor of Japan."* Passing from the subject 
of its mythology, we now proceed to notice some of 
the more prominent 

III. Pkinciples of Shintoism. 
"We are told that in Grecian antiquity gods and 
men were indistinguishable. The historian Pausanius 
states that "in the earliest age of the Greeks such 
was their justice and piety that they were guests 
and companions at table with the gods, who mani- 
fested toward them approbation when they were 
good, and anger if they behaved ill, in a palpable 
manner ; indeed," he proceeds to say, " at that time 

* " Mikado's Empire," p. 51. 



Shintoism. 355 

there were some who, having once been men, became 
gods." It is impossible, we think, to read the my- 
thology and early history of the Japanese without be- 
ing reminded of the people described by the historian 
from whom we have just quoted. If in Grecian an- 
tiquity gods and men were indistinguishable, the same 
statement applies to the earliest period in the life of 
Japan, whto the intercourse between gods and men, 
as reported in fable, was characterized by the utmost 
familiarity and confidence. The Olympus of the 
Greeks may find its counterpart in the Kiriyama of 
the Japanese. Troy and Helen are, in some respects, 
responded to by Corea and Jingo ; and the low mo- 
rality of the Grecian mythology is at least equaled by 
that of the Japanese. But while points of resemblance, 
such as we have indicated, may be detected in the 
mythologies of Greece and Japan, it is somewhat re- 
markable that, with regard to intellectual develop- 
ment and fruitage, the two nations may, in at least a 
general way, be contrasted rather than compared. 
The one developed a language which, for richness, 
accuracy, and flexibility, has rarely if ever been sur- 
passed, and created a literature which even at this 
day commands the admiration of the world; the 
other has originated, indeed, a spoken language of 
much richness and beauty, but has borrowed its 
written language, while its efforts in a literary direc- 
tion have not risen to a very high degree of excellence. 



356 Doomed Religions. 

That tins difference is due not to the inferiority of 
the Japanese intellect as compared with that of the 
ancient Greeks, but rather to certain geographical, lin- 
guistic, and what we may, perhaps, designate as chro- 
nological considerations, will be admitted at once, we 
think, by all who will give attention to the subject. 
It is not my intention at present to pursue this train 
of thought ; my object in introducing it at this point 
is to suggest it at least as a partial explanation of an 
apparent anomaly, and to prepare the way for the 
statement, which to some may seem phenomenal, that 
the Japanese, notwithstanding their highly intellectual 
character, have failed to originate a system of religion 
which, in any high degree, has ever fired the enthusi- 
asm or absorbed and satisfied the thought of the nation. 
It would, however, be unjust to Shintoism, and at 
the same time indicate an inadequate grasp of the 
subject, were we, to apply to the entire system the 
statement, evidently designed to be descriptive of its 
modern or impure form, by one of the leading Japa- 
nese scholars of the present day, to the effect that " the 
leading idea of Shinto is reverential feeling toward 
the dead." It would also be an inadequate and 
misleading conclusion were we to accept, as exhaust- 
ively descriptive of the system, a sentiment, recently 
uttered by a prominent western student of Japanese 
literature, and intended by him to apply only to its 
modern character, to the effect that " Shinto, as ex- 



Shintoism. 357 

pounded by Motoori, is nothing else than an engine for 
reducing the people to a condition of mental slavery." 
A somewhat similar view must, we think, be taken of 
the official announcement on this subject, issued in 
1872 by the government of Japan, which presents, as 
its summary of the principal tenets of Shintoism, the 
following three commands, namely : " 1. Thou shalt 
honor the gods and love thy country. 2. Thou shalt 
clearly understand the principles of heaven and the 
duty of man. 3. Thou shalt revere the Mikado as 
the sovereign, and obey the will of his court." It is 
quite correct to say that a "reverential feeling 
toward the dead " is a trait of Shintoism ; and the 
Japanese government is not singular in its attempt to 
subsidize religion in the interest of the state. It was, 
moreover, to be expected that the Japanese govern- 
ment, in its efforts to discountenance Buddhism and 
establish Shintoism as the religion of the reconstructed 
empire, should confine itself, in its official statement 
on the subject, to political considerations and the 
national aspects of the movement. 

Without assuming, in view of the incompleteness 
of researches concerning it, to speak very positively 
on the subject, we may state, as probable, that the 
origin and earlier development of the religious sys- 
tem designated Shintoism are to be found in the ad- 
oration of natural objects of the personified powers 
of nature, and of supernatural beings. The sun, as 



358 Doomed Religions. 

imparting light and heat, and as the source of life to 
animated nature, was evidently the first object that 
powerfully impressed the minds and received the 
worship of the primitive Japanese. Mountains, for- 
ests, caverns, streams, cascades, and other objects 
next appealed to their imaginations; and by ex- 
citing feelings of awe or gratitude, inspired them 
with reverence. The rotation of the seasons, the 
changing phases of the moon, the tides of the 
ocean, the mysteries of birth and death ; above, the 
storm-cloud, the thunder, the vengeful lightning ; 
around, the whispering breeze, the rushing tempest, 
the raging ocean, the ingulfing tidal-wave, the lurid 
volcano ; beneath, the trembling earth, with its sul- 
phurous vapors, partially hidden fires, earthquake- 
throes, and yawning chasms : these, and similar phe- 
nomena, would readily suggest to the ancient Japa- 
nese the presence and operation of forces, recondite 
and mysterious, indeed, but none the less obvious to 
the senses — forces, moreover, upon which they found 
themselves to be in some respects wholly dependent, 
but over which they had no control, and in the pres- 
ence of which they stood appalled and helpless. 
Exercising that intuitive logical faculty character- 
istic of and common to humanity, the early Japa- 
nese would gradually come to seek for the sources 
or causes of the wonderful influences and move- 
ments with which they discovered themselves to be 



Shintoism. 359 

environed, and guided by observation, experience, 
and increasing knowledge, they, in course of time, 
invented and elaborated the mythological system 
which serves as the basis of what we designate 
Shintoism. 

The untutored Japanese of ancient times would not 
long remain satisfied with the objects of worship to 
which we have referred. Humanitarian instincts 
and tendencies, unchecked by the teachings of divine 
revelation, would induce them to associate their de- 
ceased heroes and ancestors with those invisible be- 
ings before whom they presented sacrificial offerings 
and bowed in worship — to place in their temples 
memorials and symbols of their illustrious dead in 
conjunction with the sacred symbols of their primi- 
tive faith. Whether this accession to their pantheon 
originated with themselves, or was due to the in- 
coming Confucian philosophy, it is certain that the 
change dates from a remote period. We think it 
probable that in this modification of their mythology 
we have one of the earliest indications of that power- 
ful influence which Chinese literature has exerted on 
the Japanese. Passing from hero and ancestral wor- 
ship, the transition is natural and easy to the deifica- 
tion of their deceased emperors ; and, indeed, the de- 
vout Japanese, accepting the dogma of his direct 
descent from the Sun-goddess, was constrained by the 
irresistible logic of his faith to render divine honors 



360 Doomed Keligions. 

and worship to the emperor, even during the period 
of his life. 

What we have just written is sufficient to show 
that the religious views of the Japanese were of the 
most simple and rudimentary character. Without 
attempting to construct any complete cosmogony, or 
to explain the origin of evil, they profess their faith 
in the supernatural, accept the existence of superior 
beings to whom worship and offerings should be 
given, assert the divine origin of their race and na- 
tion, and by their worship of deceased heroes and 
ancestors indicate their belief in a future state of 
existence. To the foregoing articles of faith may be 
added, as taught in their liturgy, a belief of man's sin- 
fulness, the necessity and possibility of purification, 
and the efficacy of prayer and penance. In a work 
on Japan, published some years ago in London,* the 
following five points are presented as embodying the 
tenets of Shintoism : 

" 1. Adoration or preservation of pure fire, as the 
emblem of purity, and the instrument of purification. 
2. Purity of soul, heart, and body to be preserved ; in 
the former, by obedience to the dictates of reason and 
the law ; in the latter, by abstinence from whatever 
defiles. 3. Observance of festival days. 4. Pilgrim- 
ages. 5. Worship of the kami, both in the temples 
and at home." 

* Murray's "Manners and Customs of the Japanese." pp. 338, 339- 



Shintoism. 3G1 

The Shinto temples (Maya) and shrines are built 
with great plainness. They are constructed entirely 
of the finest kinds of wood, exquisitely finished, but 
destitute of paint, gilding, and, as far as possible, of 
metal. Those at Ise, to which we have already refer- 
red, are particularly deserving of attention. Others 
are to be found in different parts of the country. 
The model of these temples was evidently derived 
from the primitive hut of the Japanese. In the 
olden times thatch was the only covering for the 
roof ; but subsequently, as the influences of Chinese 
civilization and Buddhism began to be felt, shingles, 
earthen tiles, and copper were employed for this 
purpose. Within the temple no idols, images, or 
effigies are to be seen. The only symbols are the 
mirror, or tamajiro, and the go-hei. The mirror, it is 
said, was brought from heaven by Ninigi-no-mikoto, 
to whom it was given by the Sun-goddess, Amaterasu, 
when she dispatched him from heaven to reduce to 
order the contending deities who at that time dwelt 
on the earth. When the Sun-goddess presented the 
mirror to him, it is reported that she said : " Look 
upon this mirror as my spirit ; keep it in the same 
house and on the same floor with yourself ; and wor- 
ship it as if you were worshiping my actual pres- 
ence." The original mirror is preserved in the 
temple at Ise ; all others used in Shinto temples and 
elsewhere have been copied from it. The thought- 



362 Doomed Keligions. 

ful reader will not fail to notice the resemblance be- 
tween this story and that of the image in the temple 
of Diana at Ephesus, " which fell down from Jupi- 
ter." Acts xix, 35. The resemblance, also, is at least 
equally striking when the story is compared with the 
legend, narrated by Ovid, of the statue or image of 
Pallas, which fell down from heaven upon one of the 
hills near Troy. We remark, further, that the mirror 
just referred to is the principal one of the three 
sacred symbols of authority possessed by the Mikado, 
the other two symbols being the sword and the ball. 
In the Shinto temples, where Buddhistic influence 
prevails, the mirror has sometimes been exposed as 
an object of worship ; but in pure Shinto temples it 
is concealed in a box or casket, and is called tamajiro, 
(august spirit substitute.) The Sun-goddess, Amate- 
rasu, is the only deity for whom the mirror should be 
employed as a symbol, but it has been applied as a 
symbol to other deities. Mr. Satow, who has person- 
ally examined the Shinto temples at Ise, has given the 
following description of the tamajiro in the principal 
temples there : " The mirror (of the Sun-goddess) is 
contained in a box of hinoki, furnished with eight 
handles, of which four are on the box itself, and four 
on the lid. The box rests on a low stand, and is cov- 
ered with a piece of cloth said to be white silk. The 
mirror itself is wrapped in a brocade bag, which is 
never opened or renewed ; but when it begins to fall 



Shintoism. 363 

to pieces from age, another bag is put on, so that the 
actual covering consists of numerous layers. Over 
the whole is placed a sort of cage of unpainted wood, 
with ornaments said to be of pure gold ; and over 
this again is thrown a sort of curtain of coarse silk 
descending to the floor on all sides. The tamajiro 
of the aidano (subordinate deities) are contained in 
similar boxes, smaller in size, and not having the 
outer cage. The boxes, or rather their coverings, 
are all that can be seen when the shrines are opened 
during the seasons of the various festivals." 

Opinions differ considerably as to the meaning 
of the go-hei (august present, or offering) symbol 
universally employed in Shinto temples, so that it 
is not easy to obtain a perfectly satisfactory expla- 
nation of it. It seems probable, however, judging 
from the signification of the term, and the use made 
originally of the symbol in worship, that the go-hei 
represented at first the gifts presented by the wor- 
shiper; subsequently they indicated the seats of the 
kami worshiped ; and finally they came to be re- 
garded as the kami (gods) themselves. It should, 
perhaps, be stated, in this connection, that the term 
go-hei is of Chinese origin; the corresponding 
Japanese word, and the one preferred by pure 
Shintoists, is mitegura. The go-hei itself is simply 
a slender wand of unpainted wood, from which hang 
two long pieces of paper notched so as to present a 



361 Doomed Religions. 

twisted appearance. The symbol probably origi- 
nated in the ancient practice of placing in the ground 
sticks with paper or shavings attached, to attract the 
attention of the spirits — a practice, it has been re- 
marked, which prevails to this day among the Japa- 
nese, the Ainos, and some of the hill tribes of India 
and Burmah. Mr. Satow states that there is but one 
go-hei to each god worshiped at any particular shrine. 
In addition to the larger temples at Ise, and others 
of a similar, though less important, character in dif- 
ferent parts of the empire, there is the Ichi-no-miya, 
chief temple of the province in which the worshiper 
lives ; innumerable way-side shrines, which remind 
the passer-by of the presence of the deities, and of 
his duties toward them ; the temples of the ujigami, 
(family gods,) where new-born infants are presented 
to the local deity with a view to placing them under 
his protection ; the kamidana, which contains various 
tablets covered with paper called o-harahi and o-fuda, 
on which are printed the titles of the gods of Ise and 
other gods worshiped by the householder ; and the 
butsudan, containing the monumental tablets of an- 
cestors and deceased members of the family. The 
butsudan usually has the image of the chief Buddhist 
god placed in the center, the monumental tablets be- 
ing arranged in order on each side, thus furnishing 
one illustration of the many that might be produced, 
to show how one system of religion has modified the 



Shintoism. 365 

other. The kaniidan is found in nearly every Japa- 
nese family. The Shinto priests are called kannushi, 
(shrine-keepers.) They receive titles from the em- 
peror, and are graded according to rank. Ordinarily 
they wear the common dress of the people, but put 
on a white robe when in attendance upon their official 
duties. They do not practice celibacy or shave their 
heads; they marry, rear families, and in most re- 
spects live like other people, though sustaining an 
official relation to the government. The offerings 
presented by the worshiper in modern times consist 
of fruits, rice, vegetables, sake, (wine,) fish, venison, 
etc. In ancient times, birds, domestic animals, and 
cattle were offered in sacrifice ; and it is thought by 
some that at a very remote period human sacrifices 
were offered at the graves of the chiefs. This cruel 
rite, however, was interdicted about the time of 
Christ's advent, and has long since passed away. As 
specimens of the prayers used in worship we present 
the following, translated by Mr. Satow. The first is 
addressed to the god and goddess of the wind, as 
follows : 

" From a distance I reverently worship with awe 
before Ame-no-mi-ha-shira and Kuni-no-mi-hashira, 
also called Shinatsu-hiko-no-kami and Shinatsu-hime- 
no-kami, to whom is consecrated the palace built with 
stout pillars at Tatsuta-no-Tachina, in the department 
of Ileguri, in the province of Yamato. I say with 



366 Doomed Religions. 

awe, deign to bless me by correcting the unwitting 
faults which, seen and heard by you, I have commit- 
ted, by blowing off and clearing away the calamities 
which evil gods might inflict, by causing me to live 
long like the hard and lasting rock ; and by repeating 
to the gods of heavenly origin, and to the gods of 
earthly origin, the petitions which I present every 
day, along with your breath, that they may hear with 
the sharp earnestness of the forth-galloping colt." 

The next prayer is addressed to the kamidana, as 
follows : 

" Reverently adoring the great god of the two 
palaces of Ise, in the first place, the eight hundred 
myriads of celestial gods, the eight hundred myriads 
of terrestrial gods, all the fifteen hundred myriads 
of gods, to whom are consecrated the great and 
small temples in all provinces, all islands, and all 
places of the great land of Eight Islands, the fifteen 
hundreds of myriads of gods whom they cause to 
serve them, and the gods of branch palaces and 
branch temples, and Sohodo-no-kami, whom I have 
invited to the shrine, set up on this divine shelf, and 
to whom I offer praises day by day, I pray with awe 
that they will deign to correct the unwitting faults 
which, heard and seen by them, I have committed, 
and blessing and favoring me according to the powers 
which they severally wield, cause me to follow the di- 
vine example and to perform good works in the way." 



Shintoism. 367 

Some of the prayers used in worship consist sim- 
ply in repeating the name of the idol ; others consist 
of the repetition of a few sentences, supposed to pos- 
sess a magical efficacy. Flowers are profusely of- 
fered ; and, in worshiping ancestors, the first portion 
of the rice boiled for the daily food of the household, 
together with the first portion of any fruit or cooked 
food which the deceased are known to be fond of, are 
presented. 

In the writings of Hirata Atsutana, a distinguished 
member of the renaissance school of pure Shintoists, 
we find the following directions for worship, as trans- 
lated by Mr. Satow : 

u As the number of the gods who possess different 
functions is so great, it will be convenient to worship 
by name only the most important, and to include the 
rest in a general petition. Those whose daily affairs 
are so multitudinous that they have not time to go 
through the whole of the following morning prayers, 
may content themselves with adoring the residence of 
the emperor, the domestic kamidana, the spirits of 
their ancestors, their local patron god, and the deity 
of their particular calling in life. In praying to the 
gods, the blessings which each has it in his power to 
bestow are to be mentioned in a few words, and they 
are not to be annoyed by greedy petitions, for the 
Mikado, in his palace, offers up petitions daily on be- 
half of his people, which are far more effectual than 



368 Doomed Religions. 

those of his subjects. Rising early in the morning, 
wash your face and hands, rinse out the mouth, 
and cleanse the body. Then turn toward the prov- 
ince of Yamato, strike the palms of the hands to- 
gether twice, and worship, bowing the head to the 
ground. The proper posture is that of kneeling on 
the heels, which is ordinarily assumed in saluting a 
superior." 

The same writer shows the importance of worship, 
and presents the example of the emperor with regard 
to it in the following passage : 

" Every thing in the world depends on the spirit 
of the gods of heaven and earth, and, therefore, the 
worship of the gods is a matter of primary impor- 
tance. The gods who do harm are to be appeased, so 
that they may not punish those who have offended 
them ; and all the gods are to be worshiped, so that 
they may be induced to increase their favors. To 
compel obedience from human beings, and to love 
them, was all the sovereign had to do, and there was 
no necessity for teaching them vain doctrines, such as 
are preached in other countries. Hence the art of 
governing is called Matsurigoto, which literally 
means worshiping. Accordingly the early sover- 
eigns worshiped the gods in person, and prayed that 
their people might enjoy a sufficiency of food, cloth- 
ing, and shelter from the elements ; and twice a year, 
in the sixth and twelfth months, they celebrated the 



Shiotoism. 369 

festival of the general purification, by which the 
whole nation was purged of calamities, offenses, and 
pollutions." 

We present, also, as pertinent in this connection, 
the following passage from the above-named Jap- 
anese author, showing the importance of this subject 
in the estimation of the ancient Japanese : 

" Although in later ages many foreign customs 
were adopted, we find that the religious rites of 
Shinto always occupied the first place in the books 
wherein are recorded the rules and ceremonies of the 
court. For instance, the first book of the ten, which 
are called Kio-no-gige, is occupied with the rules of the 
department of religion. Of the fifty volumes of the 
Tengi-shiki, the first ten are devoted to Shinto mat- 
ters ; the Norito (liturgies) contained in the eighth 
volume are not the private prayers of the Mikado, 
but are those used at the festivals which he cele- 
brated on behalf of the people ; and the ninth and 
tenth volumes (of the Novito) contain the names of 
three thousand one hundred and thirty-two gods in 
two thousand eight hundred and sixty-one temples, at 
which the court worshiped, (personally or by special 
envoys.) In the Shokugensho (1341) of the Taka- 
batake Chikafusa, the constitution of the department 
of religion is described even before that of the Council 
of State. In the reign of Kotoku, (A. D. 645-654,) 

in answer to an inquiry as to how the people were to 
24 



370 Doomed Keligions. 

be ruled, all the ministers of the Mikado replied to 
him, ' First serve the gods, and afterward deliberate 
on matters of government.' But the successors of 
this Mikado neglected the worship of the gods for 
that of Buddha, and the consequence was the decline 
of their authority. An effort to reform the practice of 
the Court was made by the Emperor Juntoku, (born 
1197, died 1242,) who, in his Kimpi Misho, says, 
6 The rule of the Forbidden Precinct is that the wor- 
ship of the gods comes first, and other matters after- 
ward. At morning arid evening the wise resolve to 
do honor to the gods is carried out with diligence. 
Even in the slightest matters the Jingu (temples at 
Ise) and the Naishi-dokoro, are not to be placed after 
the emperor. According, as all things arrive at ma- 
turity, they shall be offered up at first, (to the gods ;) 
but things presented by Buddhist monks and nuns, 
and from all persons who are under an interdict, 
these shall not be presented." * 

There are many Shinto festivals, but the principal, 
as well as the most characteristic, one is that called 
the General Purification, celebrated twice a year — in 
the sixth and twelfth months. Anciently the em- 
peror at the capital, and the priests in the provinces, 
performed these public lustrations in behalf of the 
people. Subsequently paper figures, representing 
the people, were thrown into the water to indicate 

* See " Revival of Pure Shinto," pp. 79-82. 



Shintoism. 371 

the purification of the people; and, finally, it was 
relegated to the minister of religion, in the capital, to 
officiate in behalf of the people. 

Pilgrimages to sacred shrines constitute a prom- 
inent feature of Shintoism. They have always been 
popular among the Japanese, and are practiced by 
multitudes at the present day. Fujiyama and Ise 
attract the largest numbers of pilgrims. The intelli- 
gent visitor to Japan will not fail to observe the sin- 
gular wooden structures, called torii, somewhat re- 
sembling, in their general appearance, two upright 
crosses placed side by side, which are found in con- 
nection with all Shinto temples and shrines. It was 
at one time supposed that they were gate-ways leading 
to these places of w r orship — a supposition suggested 
, probably by their shape, and by the circumstance 
that usually they are found in front of these places. 
It is now understood, however, that they were not 
originally intended for gate-ways, but, as their name 
signifies, for " bird-rests " — that is, places on which 
were placed the fowls offered to the gods, not as 
food, but as chanticleers, to announce day-break. 
There are many other features of Shintoism to which 
it would be interesting and instructive to refer, but 
the foregoing outline sketch is, perhaps, sufficient to 
place the subject before us with some degree of clear- 
ness, and enable us to estimate with at least an ap- 
proximate degree of accuracy the influence of Shin- 



372 Doomed Religions. 

toism as a factor in the production of Japanese char- 
acter and civilization. 

IY. Influence and Peobable Future of Shintoism. 

Even the necessarily brief and inadequate exami- 
nation of Shintoism which we have presented in the 
foregoing pages must have convinced the thoughtful 
reader that it is impossible for such a system to re- 
main inoperative or ineffective in any mind or society 
into which it enters as a recognized element or fac- 
tor. While it does not surpass, and perhaps may not 
equal, in subtle metaphysics, profound philosophy, or 
poetic embellishment, some of the religious systems 
evolved by the human mind amid different surround- 
ings, and beneath other skies, it certainly possesses 
elements and characteristics of intrinsic value, to- 
gether with historic associations, of permanent inter- 
est sufficient to challenge our respect, and, indeed, 
our admiration. When we consider that it is the 
primitive, and, during a period of one thousand 
years, was the only religious faith of a people who 
have become the most enlightened and progressive 
nation of Asia ; that it required of Buddhism, for its 
complete triumph over the Japanese, nearly as many 
centuries of persistent effort as were necessary for its 
conquest of all the other great Asiatic nations east of 
India ; that, after centuries of contact with and sub- 
mission to the combined teachings of Buddhism and 



Shintoism. 373 

Confucianism, the Japanese still practice, in some- 
what modified forms, many of the Shinto rites ; and 
that the movement among literary Japanese for a 
revival of pure Shintoism, which commenced about 
the beginning of the eighteenth century, culminated 
recently in a determined but apparently unsuccessful 
attempt by the government to re-establish Shintoism 
as the religion of the empire ; these considerations 
are quite sufficient, we think, to show that the influ- 
ence of Shintoism in the development of Japanese 
character and civilization has been active and abid- 
ing. Professor Griffis, referring to the influence of 
the ancient mythology of Japan, says : 

" In spite of Buddhism, rationalism, and skeptical 
philosophy, it has entered as fully into the life and 
art and faith of the people of Japan as the mythol- 
ogy of the Aryan nations has entered into the life 
and art of Europe. Like that of the nation's classic 
to us, the Japanese mythology, when criticised in the 
light of morals, and as divorced from art, looked at 
by one of alien clime, race, and faith, contains much 
that is hideous, absurd, impure, and even revolting. 
Judged as the creation and growth of the imagina- 
tion, faith, and intellect of the primitive inhabitants 
of Japan, influenced by natural surroundings, it is a 
faithful mirror of their country and condition and 
character, before these were greatly modified by out- 
side religion or philosophy. Judged as a religious 



374 Doomed Religions. 

influence upon the descendants of the ancient NThon- 
ese — the Japanese as we know them — it may be fairly 
held responsible for much of the peculiar moral traits 
of their character, both good and evil. The Japa- 
nese mythology is the doctrinal basis of their ancient 
and indigenous religion called Kami-no-michi, or 
Shinto. One of the greatest pleasures to a student 
of Japanese art, antiquities, and the life, as seen in 
the Japan of to-day, is to discover the survivals of 
primitive culture among the natives, or to trace in 
their customs the fashions and ceremonies current 
tens of centuries ago, whose genesis is to be sought 
in the age of the gods. Beneath the poetical and 
mythical costume are many beautiful truths." * 

While admitting that Shintoism is wanting in re- 
gard to certain features which characterize some of 
the other religious systems of Asia, we, at the same 
time, consider it a matter of sheer justice to recog- 
nize the system as a potent factor in the production 
of Japanese civilization. If it has not, to any great 
extent, fired the enthusiasm of its votaries, it has 
never coerced or goaded them into fanaticism. If it 
has not absorbed and satisfied the highest thought 
of the nation, a similar failure may be predicated of 
other religious systems, while to Shintoism must be 
accorded the credit of contributing, in part at least, 
to stimulate and direct the Japanese in a progressive 

* See " Mikado's Empire," p. 52. 



Shintoism. 375 

movement, the splendid culmination of which, in our 
day, attracts the attention and excites the admiration 
of the world. It is a remarkable circumstance that, 
of all the great nations of Asia, Japan is the first 
voluntarily to accept modern civilization ; and the 
thoroughness and prudence which characterize her 
efforts to qualify herself for the duties of her new 
position constitute a sufficient guarantee of success. 
The other prominent religions of Asia grappled, not 
always triumphantly, with the mysteries of creation 
and human destiny ; constructed in the interests of 
social order and government utilitarian systems of 
philosophy, or essayed to meet and satisfy, by im- 
posing forms of worship, the infinite longings of the 
human soul ; Shintoism, on the other hand, recogniz- 
ing, from the outset, the divine origin, both of the 
Japanese and the government under which they 
were placed, confined itself, in the main, to teaching 
and illustrating, by the most direct methods, lessons 
of faith and trust, and to an effort to respond, 
through the simplest forms, to the soul's ceaseless 
yearnings for purity and peace. A comparison of 
the modest assumptions and pretensions of Shintoism 
with those of many other heathen systems of relig- 
ion suggests a striking contrast, into the discussion 
of which we, at present, have not space to enter. 
We may just remark, in passing, that Shintoism, as 
well by what it teaches, as by declining to pre-empt 



376 Doomed Religions. 

the entire ground in its own imperial right, has con- 
tributed most effectively to cultivate in the Japanese 
mind a habit of dependence, a condition of receptiv- 
ity highly conducive to catholicity of sentiment, and 
exceptionably favorable to the impartial investigation 
of the claims of Christianity. 

Shintoism, as an obstacle in the path of the ad- 
vancing religion of Jesus Christ, is not formidable. 
Notwithstanding its assured place in the traditions, 
religious rites, and, we may add, the affections of 
the Japanese, there is but little in it to necessitate, 
on its part, any violent opposition to the spread of 
Christianity in Japan. The vigorous, though unsuc- 
cessful, effort recently put forth by the government 
of Japan to reform Shintoism and make it the na- 
tional religion has not led to any aggressive move- 
ment, or evoked any enthusiasm, among its votaries. 
In the overshadowing presence of Buddhism, which, 
during a period of about fourteen centuries, has been 
either the advancing or the dominant religion of 
Japan, Shintoism has lost much of its individuality 
and self-assertion ; has incorporated with its rites 
some Buddhistic practices, and has ceased to exert 
the influence over public opinion and customs which 
characterized it in the olden time. Even in its palm- 
iest days it was utterly inadequate as a system, and 
impotent as a teacher, of religious truth. It is not 
probable that any effort to reform the system and 



Shintoism. 377 

restore it to influence in the empire will ever be suc- 
cessful. Its days apparently are numbered, its mis- 
sion ended. Its principles and rites will soon be 
relegated to the pages of history. Like many other 
systems of a similar character, it is gradually moving 
to take its place in the silent chambers of the past. 
We are thankful that at last the true doctrines have 
reached Japan. 



378 Doomed Heligions. 



CONFUCIANISM. 

7 

— r— 

BY EEV. S. L. BALDWIN, D.D., 

LATE SUPERINTENDENT OF FOOCHOW MISSION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH. 

THE religions of a vast empire like China, which 
hold sway over the minds of four hundred millions 
of our fellow-beings, must be a matter of profound in- 
terest to all thoughtful Christians. "When we begin 
to investigate the religious beliefs and practices of the 
Chinese people, we find ourselves at once confronted 
by Confucianism — a system bearing the name of a 
sage who has been revered for twenty-four centuries^ 
and whose teachings have exerted a powerful influ- 
ence upon the minds of the Chinese people. It is, 
indeed, a matter of controversy whether Confucian- 
ism is entitled to be called a religion, a question 
which will receive attention as we proceed with our 
investigations. For the present it is enough to say 
that, at all events, it takes the place of a religion in 
many minds ; it has certain religious observances con- 
nected with it, and it wields a great influence over 
the religious thoughts of the people. It is, beyond 
question, a system that any one who would investi- 
gate and understand the religions of the Chinese 



Confucianism. 379 

must become acquainted with. As we enter upon 
its study, the first question that demands our atten- 
tion is, Who was Confucius % 

Biography. 

He was born in the year 551 B. C, in the petty 
kingdom of Lu, which is now a part of the province 
of Shantung. Cyrus was then on the throne of Per- 
sia, Xerxes was invading Greece, the Jews had just 
returned from the Babylonish captivity. He was 
contemporary with the great prophets Ezeldel and 
Daniel. His father was a military officer, who w T as 
descended from the ancient royal family of the 
Shang dynasty. He was over seventy years old 
when Confucius was born, and died before this son 
of his old age was three years old. The mother of 
the sage was left to struggle with poverty, the trials 
of which were shared by her son, who seems ever to 
have regarded her with affectionate reverence. He 
was married at the age of nineteen, and soon after 
secured a position in government employ. At the 
age of twenty-two he began to teach history and 
the writings of the ancients. "When twenty-three 
his mother died, an event over which he mourned 
deeply and sincerely. The succeeding ten years he 
spent in the study of the ancient writings and of 
music, and in teaching. His ability as a teacher be- 
gan to attract much attention, and the sons of many 



380 Doomed Religions. 

eminent men were sent to him for instruction. His 
reputation rapidly increased, and lie became famous, 
not only in his native kingdom, but in the sur- 
rounding states. At the age of thirty-four he 
yisited the capital, and there met the philosopher 
Lao-tzu, who was then about eighty-eight years old. 
It is said that Confucius questioned him in regard 
to the ceremonies for the dead, and that Lao-tzu 
replied : 

" Those whom you talk about are dead, and their 
bones are moldered in the dust; only their words 
are left. Moreover, when the superior man gets his 
time, he mounts aloft ; but when the time is against 
him, he moves as if his feet were entangled. I have 
heard that a good merchant, though he has rich treas- 
ures deeply stored, appears as if he were poor, and 
that the superior man, though his virtue is complete, 
is yet to outward seeming stupid. Put away your 
proud air and many desires, your insinuating habit 
and wild will. These are of no advantage to you ; 
this is all that I have to tell you." 

This report leaves on our minds rather an unfavor- 
able impression of Lao-tzu as a philosopher of the 
crusty old Carlyle order. But Confucius seems to 
have been profoundly impressed by this interview 
with him, and is reported as saying to his disciples 
afterward : 

" I know how birds can fly, fishes swim, and ani- 



Confucianism. 381 

mals run. But the runner may be snared, tlie swim- 
mer hooked, and the flyer shot by the arrow. But 
there is the dragon ; I cannot tell how he mounts on 
the wind through the clouds, and rises to heaven. 
To-day I have seen Lao-tzu, and can only compare 
him to the dragon." 

Disciples began to come from all regions to join 
themselves to the great teacher, and soon they were 
numbered by thousands. About this time great 
troubles and dissensions arose in the kingdom, and 
the ruler was driven out. In the midst of the con- 
fusion and disorder that followed Confucius contin- 
ued his teaching for fourteen years. In the year 500 
B. C, at the age of fifty-one, he was made chief mag- 
istrate of a district. His wise and efficient admin- 
istration brought about a great reformation in the 
manners of the people, which attracted the attention 
of the ruler, (who is called king by some translators, 
and marquis by others,) and led to his inquiring 
whether a whole kingdom could be governed on the 
same principles. Receiving a favorable reply, he 
rapidly promoted the sage, and soon made him Min- 
ister of Penal Law. The accounts given of his ad- 
ministration of this office are in terms of extravagant 
laudation. They represent that there was no need to 
execute the laws, because the certainty of their just 
execution led to a willing and cheerful obedience on 
the part of the people. During the three years of 



382 Doomed Keligions. 

his administration lie dismantled the fortified cities 
of the warring clans. One biographer says : " Dis- 
honesty and dissoluteness were ashamed, and hid 
their heads. Loyalty and good faith became the 
characteristics of the men, and chastity and docility 
those of the women." 

He was idolized by the people, and held in uni- 
versal respect far beyond the boundaries of his own 
kingdom. The chronicler of the times goes on to 
state that the ruler of the adjoining kingdom of Chi 
saw a danger in the rapidly-increasing influence and 
power of Confucius ; namely, that Lu would swallow 
up all the adjoining kingdoms. He therefore plotted 
to separate the ruler of Lu from his wise counselor ; 
and, with this purpose in view, sent to the monarch 
presents of beautiful women and fine horses, to tempt 
him away from the strict morality and simple life 
commended by Confucius. The plan succeeded. 
Confucius strove in vain to lead the ruler back to 
virtuous conduct. When he found that he could no 
longer wield an influence for good, he sadly bade 
farewell to his official position, forsook his native 
kingdom, and wandered about for thirteen years in 
the neighboring states, teaching the disciples who 
every-where gathered about him, and lamenting the 
degeneracy of the times. When Lu was tranquilized, 
and Confucius returned, he was a venerable man of 
sixty-eight, and very much broken in spirit, with 



Confucianism. 383 

little hope of ever seeing accomplished the reforms 
for which he had labored. 

For five years longer he continued his literary pur- 
suits in a saddened old age. One day, when he was 
about seventy-three, one of his disciples saw him 
sadly walking back and forth in front of his humble 
dwelling, and overheard him saying to himself, " The 
great mountain must crumble ; the strong beam must 
break; and the wise man must wither away.' 5 He 
took to his couch and died within a week. As death 
approached, it is said that he showed no fear, and 
uttered no prayer. 

He was buried with great pomp, and was very 
sincerely lamented. Some of his disciples built 
huts around his grave, and remained there, mourning 
their lost master, for three years ; and one of them 5 
Tsze-Kung, stayed three years longer to manifest his 
grief. ' 

It is not easy to define the character of this great 
sage. That he was a man of great intellectual power 
is beyond all question. It is evident that he had 
great reverence for the men of olden time, and de- 
voted himself very earnestly to the study of the past. 
He was thoroughly imbued with the conservative 
character which characterized the Chinese in his 
time ; and his influence has been potent in perpetuat- 
ing that conservatism. He was humanitarian in his 
sympathies, and sincerely endeavored to alleviate the 



884: Doomed Religions. 

sufferings of liis fellow-men. In his brief official 
career lie manifested great executive ability. The 
multitudes of disciples that gathered about him were 
not drawn by any personal magnetism, nor by the 
warmth of overflowing affection ; for Confucius does 
not seem to have possessed these qualities in any 
great degree. It was almost entirely by the force 
of his intellect that he secured the respect of men, 
and drew disciples from every direction. One or two 
incidents from his history will illustrate some points 
in his character. 

He was once assailed by a mob, and some of his 
disciples manifested much anxiety on his behalf, 
while he remained perfectly calm. He afterward said 
to them, " After the death of King "Wau, was not the 
cause of letters and truth lodged in me ? If Heaven 
had wished to let this cause perish, I should not have 
got such a relation to it. While Heaven does not let 
the cause of truth perish, what can the men of 
K'wang do to me?" This indicates the conscious- 
ness of a mission to be filled, and faith in a protecting 
power while engaged in it. He must have been per- 
suaded that " man is immortal till his work is done." 

One of his disciples was asked by a prince, through 
whose territory they were passing, to describe the 
sage. This he declined to do, professing himself un- 
able. Reporting the fact afterward to the master, 
he replied, " "Why did you not say that I am simply 



Confucianism. 3 So 

a man who in his eager pursuit of knowledge forgets 
his food, who in the joy of its attainment forgets his 
sorrows, and who does not perceive that old age is com- 
ing on ? " On the whole, he stands out as an upright 
man, honorable in all his public conduct, gentle and 
good in his private character, looking backward for 
knowledge, drawing his inspiration from the past, 
and concerning himself but little about the future. 

The Rev. Dr. Legge, Professor of Chinese at Ox- 
ford University, who is disposed to take as favorable 
a view as possible of the great Chinese philosopher, 
feels compelled to admit that in the " Spring and Au- 
tumn Annals," one of the greatest of the works of 
Confucius, he concealed some historical facts, and 
misrepresented others, in order to preserve the high 
reputation of worthies of the past. It does not seem 
possible to remove this blemish from his character. 
Other charges that have been made against him — 
such as that of teaching the admissibility of falsehood, 
and of divorcing his wife — are not supported by sat- 
isfactory evidence. 

Docteines. 

This brief view of the life and character of Con- 
fucius will prepare us to enter upon the considera- 
tion of his teachings. In doing this we must remem- 
ber that China had religious forms and observances for 
many centuries before the birth of Confucius. Her 

credible history reaches back to the beginning of the 
25 



386 Doomed Eeligions. 

reign of the Emperor Yao, four thousand one hun- 
dred years ago. In his time, and during the reign of 
Shun, sacrifices were offered to Shang-Ti, to heaven 
and earth, to hills and rivers, and to the gods of the 
land and grain. It is still a matter of great contro- 
versy as to who was the object of the worship paid 
to Shang-Ti. The characters composing this name 
signify " Upper Ruler," or " Supreme Ruler." Some 
missionaries have been firmly persuaded that the liv- 
ing and true God, Jehovah, was the original object 
of this worship of the Chinese ; and Dr. Legge holds 
that through the centuries the Chinese emperors in 
their visits to the great altar of Heaven have bowed 
in adoration before God. "When he visited the altar at 
Peking, he took off his shoes from his feet, on reach- 
ing this " holy ground," and sang " Praise God, from 
whom all blessings flow ! " Few of his missionary 
brethren would follow his example in this respect, 
though many of them consider it probable that the 
early worship of Shang-Ti was really worship of the 
true God. Many others, however, seriously doubt or 
positively disbelieve that God was ever worshiped 
by the Chinese under this name ; while many more, 
waiving the question of the early usage of the name, 
are satisfied that it is now, and has been for centu- 
ries, identified with the chief god of the Taoist pan- 
theon, and is not, therefore, a suitable designation 
for God at this day. So far as we can ascertain, 



Confucianism. 387 

the worship of the other objects and inferior deities 
named extends back as far as that of Shang-Ti, and 
the theory that the religion of China was once 
monotheistic can hardly be claimed to be more than 
a conjecture. This worship of Shang-Ti, whatever it 
was, and of other objects named, Confucius found 
already existing. The sacrifices connected with it 
were not of a propitiatory character, but simple obla- 
tions. There was no confession of guilt, and no 
acknowledgment of dependence. 

Finding this religion, such as it was, prevalent 
among the people, there is no evidence that he at- 
tempted to reform or alter it, or add to it in any 
way. He expressly speaks of himself as a "trans- 
mitter," and " not a maker." 

We search in vain through his writings for any 
teaching in regard to the relation of man to God. 
He frankly admitted that he did not comprehend the 
gods, and thought it best not to meddle much with 
them. He said, " The part of wisdom is to attend 
carefully to our duties to men, and while we respect 
the gods, to keep aloof from them." He has nothing 
to say about the creation of things, attempts to throw 
no light on the origin of man, and stands in mute 
helplessness before the questionings of the human 
soul as to the great hereafter. 

It is very seldom, indeed, that any reference can 
be found in his utterances to a higher power. Once 



388 Doomed Religions. 

he said, " He who offends against Heaven has none 
to whom he can pray," which reminds us of the 
psalmist's words, " If I regard iniquity in my heart, 
the Lord will not hear me." At another time he- 
said, " There is Heaven ; it knows me," which on 
Christian lips might be a recognition of the omnis- 
cience of God; but such a reference to "Heaven" 
by no means defines the speaker's belief in regard to 
a personal God. 

He participated in the worship of ancestors, which 
was common in his time. This would seem to imply 
his belief in their continued existence, and to shed 
some light on his faith in regard to the future. But 
it is by no means certain that the fact reveals any 
thing reliable to us in regard to his real belief. It 
may have been a mere acquiescence with the estab- 
lished customs of the time, rather than the outgrowth 
of the heart's convictions. If he had any such belief, 
it is certain that he never taught it. When a disciple 
asked him about death, he replied, " While you do 
not know life, how can you know about death?" 
When another asked, " Do the dead have any knowl- 
edge ? " — a question that gave capital opportunity for 
the unfolding of his views in regard to the future 
state — his answer was, "You need not wish to know 
whether they have knowledge or not. Hereafter 
you will know it for yourself." It could hardly 
have been satisfactory to this inquiring disciple to be 



Confucianism. 389 

told in effect that, if he would wait until lie should 
be dead himself, he would find out whether the dead 
knew any thing or not ! Yet this is positively all the 
light Confucius had for his disciples on a question so 
fundamental to religion as that of our future exist- 
ence. The inference is that his own mind was 
shrouded in darkness in regard to it. As an intelli- 
gent man, he must have often peered out into the 
future, but no revealing light came in response to 
his anxious gaze ; and his soul seems to have settled 
down to the thought, " Let us make the best we can 
of the present; we can know nothing of what is 
beyond." 

While his teachings in regard to God and to future 
existence are thus vague and unsatisfactory, the 
duties growing out of human relations are in general 
well taught. In this particular realm of thought, 
Confucius compares favorably with any of the great 
teachers of ancient times. In treating of the duties 
of government, he insists that rulers shall be guided 
by principles of equity in their administration. One 
of his sayings is : " Governing with equity resem- 
bles the North Star, which is fixed, and all the stars 
surround it." He teaches that government must be 
paternal in its character ; and that the wise ruler will 
be careful to set a good example to the people. He con- 
demned oppressive government in severe language. 
A characteristic anecdote is given in the " Family 



390 Doomed Religions. 

Sayings/ 5 of his finding a woman wailing beside a 
grave on tlie side of the T'ae mountain. One of his 
disciples inquiring the cause of her great sorrow, she 
replied, " My husband's father was killed here by a 
tiger, and my husband also; and now my son has 
met the same fate." Confucius asked her why she 
did not remove from so dangerous a locality ; and 
when she replied, " There is here no oppressive gov- 
ernment," he turned to his disciples with the re- 
mark, " My children remember this ; oppressive gov- 
ernment is fiercer than a tiger ! " 

Filial piety is strongly insisted upon, and conjugal 
fidelity is frequently commended and enjoined. 
Truth and honor among friends are urged in strong 
terms, and manly character is made the subject of high 
encomiums. One of his proverbs is, " He that knows 
the right, and fears to do it, is not a brave man." 

The five virtues to be cultivated are benevolence, 
justice, order, prudence, and fidelity. He observed 
the tendency of men to seek association with the 
wealthy, and with those in high station ; and while 
he did not condemn the desire for such association in 
itself, he saw the danger that principle might be sac- 
rificed in seeking to secure their favor, and uttered 
the admonition, " The rich and honorable are those 
with whom men desire to associate; not obtaining 
their company in paths of virtue, however, do not re- 
main in it." 



Confucianism. 391 

At the outset, he seems to have had much faith in 
man ; but in his old age, he appears to have lost it to 
a great extent, as is indicated by his words, " When I 
first began with men, I heard words and gave credit 
for conduct ; now I hear words and observe conduct." 

He assigns to woman a position of great inferiority. 
"Man is the representative of Heaven, and is su- 
preme over all things. "Woman yields obedience to 
the instructions of man, and helps to carry out his 
principles. On this account she can determine noth- 
ing of herself, and is subject to the rule of the 
three obediences : when young, she must obey her 
father and elder brother ; when married, she must 
obey her husband ; when her husband is dead, she 
must obey her son. She may not think of marrying 
a second time. ~No instructions or orders must issue 
from the harem. Woman's business is simply the 
preparation and supplying of wine and food. Be- 
yond the threshold of her apartments she should 
not be known for evil or for good. She may not 
cross the boundaries of the State to accompany a fu- 
neral. She may take no step on her own motion, and 
may come to no conclusion on her own deliberation." 

His greatest error is perhaps the assumption of the 
innate goodness of human nature, which led him to 
believe in man's power of self -correction, and to ex- 
pect that he would by his own efforts return to his 
original state of goodness. The doctrine is implied 



392 Doomed Religioks. 

rather than expressly taught by Confucius ; but Men- 
cius, his chief disciple, gives it explicit statement 
when he says, " Man's nature is good, as water's 
course is downward ; there is no man who is not 
good, just as there is no water that does not flow 
downward.'' This teaching is radically different from 
that of Ecclesiastes, " The heart of the sons of men is 
full of evil," and from that of Jeremiah, " The heart 
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." 
Plato and Socrates and Aristotle here side with the 
Bible ; while some of the wise men of our own times, 
in spite of much current as well as historic evidence 
to the contrary, side with Confucius and Mencius. 

The ethical teachings of the sage of China reach 
their climax in the rule, " What you do not wish 
done to yourself, do not do to others." It is not, as 
some have inconsiderately affirmed, the Golden Rule ; 
but it is a wonderfully high summit of ethical teach- 
ing, to have been reached by a heathen philosopher 
five hundred years before the birth of Christ. 

Before entering on an estimate of Confucianism, 
or instituting a comparison between it and Chris- 
tianity, it may be well to give some account of the 
sort of worship that is connected with it at present. 
Let it be borne in mind that no images of Confucius 
are erected as objects of worship, and that no idols 
are to be found in the great rooms of Confucian 
temples. No better account of the worship in these 



Confucianism. 393 

temples can be given, than is to be obtained in the 
following extract : * 

" It was my good fortune, in company with two 
other missionaries, to be present at the autumnal 
sacrifice to Confucius which occurred on the 11th of 
September, 1858, in the perfectural temple. 

" On the afternoon of the 10th, two of us went into 
the city to witness the preparatory rehearsal, which 
was attended in a large temple adjoining that of 
Confucius. A crowd of noisy youngsters, and of 
dignified and self-complacent literati, had collected 
there, together with some of the subordinate officials 
of the city, to look on while the business of rehears- 
ing some of the parts of the ceremony, to come off 
in grand style on the following morning, was being 
performed by those who were appointed to help in 
the ceremony. None of the high officials who were 
to take a principal part in the worship were present. 
They received private instructions from their pro- 
fessor of rites and ceremonies in regard to what they 
were to do. At the close of the rehearsal we called 
at the Confucian temple. 

" We found a crowd of idlers loitering about, while 
some men and boys were busy at work preparing for 
the approaching sacrifice. We noticed a number 
of vessels, made after strange and unique patterns, 

* " Social Life of the Chinese," by the late Rev. Justus Doolittle, for 
many years American Board missionary atFoochow, vol. i, pp. 362-368. 



394 Doomed Religions. 

(said to be like those used in ancient times,) of vari- 
ous sizes and shapes, and capable of holding from a 
quart to several quarts apiece. They were designed 
to be filled with rice, salt, fruits, uncooked vegeta- 
bles, etc., and to be put upon the stationary stone 
altars which stood in front of the tablets of the sage 
and the worthies. "We counted over one hundred 
and eighty vessels already prepared, and the attend- 
ants were preparing others. "We observed that, in- 
stead of honestly filling up the vessels from the 
bottom, they sometimes pasted a paper around the 
sides, just below the brim of the vessel, designed to 
hold small articles, leaving the space in the vessels 
underneath the paper quite empty. On this paper 
they carefully laid rice, salt, and other articles com- 
paratively dear. One kind was put on one vessel — 
not several articles mixed together ; there was quite 
a large number of vessels having the same kind of 
articles upon them. 

" On some one of our party asking whether they 
expected to deceive Confucius, and how they dared 
try to deceive him by offering to him vessels con- 
taining only a very small quantity of the articles, 
while the bottom was empty, a young man pertly 
answered, ' Yes, it will answer to deceive Confucius, 
hut it will not answer to deceive Jesus? True, 
thought we ; Jesus requires his followers to be sin- 
cere, and to put away all deception. How different 



Confucianism. 395 

from the theory and the practice of those who worship 
Confucius ! The explanation of the conduct of these 
persons undoubtedly is, that having agreed to pre- 
pare for the sacrifice a certain number of vessels 
filled with certain kinds of articles, by the job, they 
planned to make as much money as possible — pasting 
paper near the top of some of the vessels, and then 
using only as much of some fine articles as would fill 
the vessel from the paper to its top, leaving the space 
below unfilled. The vessel containing most of the 
coarser and cheaper vegetables were filled up from 
the bottom. 

" While two of us were making our observations 
on the temple and the preparations for the approach- 
ing sacrifice, the other, standing with his back 
toward the tablet to Confucius, addressed the crowd 
(which gathered about him as he began to speak in 
the vernacular of the place) on the folly and the sin 
of worshiping deceased men, and the duty of wor- 
shiping and serving the only true and living God — 
perhaps the first Gospel discourse ever delivered in a 
temple dedicated to the worship of the Chinese sage. 

"The next morning, about four o'clock, w r e re- 
paired to the temple to witness the sacrificial wor- 
ship rendered to Confucius by the high mandarins. 
The premises were lighted up with fires built on ele- 
vated iron racks and by torches. A large number of 
idle spectators of the lower class and of literary men 



396 Doomed Religions. 

had already gathered together, though the high offi- 
cials had not arrived. We improved the opportunity 
to notice the arrangement of the articles to be offered 
as sacrifice. 

"On a large stone altar, which stood directly in 
front of the tablet of Confucius, were placed two 
large tall candles and four shorter and smaller ones, 
already lighted, and a quantity of burning incense, a 
large piece of cooked pork, a piece of venison, and 
quite a variety of other kinds of food. A few feet 
in front of this stone altar were one large and two 
small tables. On the large table, which was placed 
between the other two, was the carcass of a yearling 
bullock. On one of the small tables was the carcass 
of a small hog, and on the other that of a very poor 
goat. The hair of these animals had been carefully 
removed, and the bodies, uncooked, were placed in 
a kneeling position, with their heads toward the tab- 
let of Confucius, as though they were devoutly con- 
templating the virtues of the sage. On the large 
table there were also several dishes of food, two large 
and two small candles, and a quantity of incense al- 
ready ignited. Besides the altar before the tablet of 
Confucius, there were four other similar but smaller 
altars. Two of these were placed before the eight 
tablets representing eight worthies on one side of the 
room, and two placed before other eight tablets on 
the opposite side of the room. In front of each of 



Confucianism. 397 

these altars were a pig and a goat, arranged on two 
tables, but no bullock. On these altars were several 
plates of food, with candles and incense. The va- 
rious vessels seen on the day j>revious, containing 
fruits, grains, vegetables, etc., were partly arranged 
on the altars in the main building, but the most of 
them were distributed about on the altars before the 
tablets in the two long rows of rooms on the sides of 
the large court in front of the main building. Before 
the large altar in front of the Confucian tablet, be- 
hind the bullock, and at several other places in the 
main hall, pieces of matting were spread on the pave- 
ment at the spot where the high officials were to 
kneel. 

" "While we were waiting the arrival of the high 
mandarins, one of the district magistrates came to us, 
attended by an interpreter, and very courteously said 
that he had been sent by the prefect to assign us a 
place, so that there should be no confusion during the 
service. Accordingly, a very eligible position was 
assigned to us, just outside one of the large doors of 
the main hall, enabling us to observe to a great ex- 
tent what was going on within and without. We - 
could not have selected a better position. 

" Soon after, the beating of an immense drum sus- 
pended near the most eastern entrance to the main 
building, and the sound of musical instruments at a 
distance, betoken the approach of the expected great 



398 Doomed Religions. 

ones. A herald proclaimed their arrival, and the 
flare of the multitude of torches and lanterns con- 
firmed the fact. The officers and their attendants 
halted at the proper places in the large court, while 
a company of twelve or fifteen players on musical 
instruments, together with some twenty-four boys, 
attended by two or three persons who directed their 
movements, marched up an inclined plane leading to 
a level arena in front of the main hall. The musi- 
cians entered the hall and disposed themselves in sev- 
eral parties. One company stood near the left and 
another near the right end of the altar, in front of 
the Confucian tablet. The boys, with their directors, 
stopped on the open arena in front of the hall, and 
divided themselves into two companies, arranging 
themselves along the opposite side of the large central 
doors. These urchins were clad in an embroidered 
tunic, much the worse looking for service, and they 
wore on their heads the red official cap used by 
Chinese on grand occasions. They were provided 
with instruments about two feet long, consisting of 
two parts. One of these parts was hollow. The 
other was solid, and passed partially through the hol- 
low one. A nail or spike was driven into the upper 
end of the solid sticks, and, according to the regu^ 
lations of the ceremony, there ought to have been 
a feather of the pheasant stuck on this iron point. 
But on this occasion the feather was wanting, if our 



Confucianism. 399 

observation was correct. Perhaps only very small 
feathers were used, which could not be seen in the 
distance. 

" When every thing was ready, at signals given by 
the drum, some five or six officers, attired in very 
rich dresses and caps, were seen slowly and solemnly 
ascending the stone steps on the east and west sides of 
the arena in front of the main hall, one following 
another at a short interval. Each mandarin was pre- 
ceded by one or two 'professors of ceremony? The 
viceroy was not present on this occasion, being absent 
from the city on a rebel- quelling expedition in the 
western part of the province. The highest function- 
aries who took part in the sacrificial worship were 
the provincial governor, treasurer, criminal judge, 
the two commissioners of the salt and of the pro- 
vision department. The Tartar general and other 
Tartar and military officers, and the prefect and other 
subordinate civil officers, not being allowed to par- 
ticipate personally in the main hall, stood below in 
the court in front, ready to bow down at the proper 
time, which they doubtless did. Our position did not 
admit of our seeing them perform. 

"The officers, having ascended to the elevated 
arena with great solemnity, entered the hall by the 
doors on the right and the left of the center, and pro- 
ceeded to the places appointed for kneeling in front 
of the altars and the tables covered with offerings, 



400 Doomed Keligions. 

all under the escort of their professors of ceremony. 
Here they slowly knelt down, and bowed the head 
toward the pavement three times, holding with both 
hands some sticks of burning incense, which, after 
the bowing was completed, they delivered back to 
their attendants from whom they had been received. 
The attendants handed to their officers, still kneeling, 
a vessel taken from the altar or table in front of 
which they were, which, having received very care- 
fully with both hands, they presented with a very 
reverential air toward the tablet in front, whether of 
Confucius or of some of the worthies, as though re- 
questing them to jpartdke of the contents. They then 
returned the dish to the attendants, who replaced it 
upon the table or altar whence it had been taken. 
Sometimes the same ceremony was repeated with 
other articles of food. Some or all of the officers 
passed from one altar to another, performing similar 
ceremonies. 

" The musicians all this while was playing on their 
instruments, and chanting the words of an adulatory 
ode to Confucius. The big drum gave forth its 
sonorous peals occasionally, and the urchins outside 
of the hall were performing certain evolutions with 
their sticks, accompanied with kneelings and bow- 
ings. These maneuvers, in the estimation of the 
Chinese, indicated great reverence and majesty, but, 
in the humble opinion of the foreign observers, were 



Confucianism. 401 

eminently ridiculous. The manipulations of the two 
sticks seemed to consist principally in moving one up 
through the other as far as the handle would allow, 
the movement being slow and deliberate, designed to 
be in accord with the music. 

" Soon the high officials, piloted by their profess- 
ors of ceremony, walked slowly out of the hall and 
descended into the court, taking the same route by 
which they ascended. Shortly afterward they and 
their cicerones came up again, went through with 
similar performances, and retired. The same routine 
was repeated for the third time, with slight devia- 
tions. At a certain period of the performances, 
while the officers were below in the court, a professor 
of ceremony entered the hall, and, proceeding to a 
particular spot where was placed a small stand by 
itself, reverently knelt down and chanted, in a shrill 
and most doleful tone of voice, a sort of sacrificial ode 
to Confucius. 

" Shortly after the third and final descent of the 

worshiping officers of the court, a company of men 

walked out of the hall through the large center door, 

and passing directly down the inclined plane into the 

open area below, each holding with both hands a roll 

of coarse white silk above his head. These rolls of 

silk were burned on the pavement of the court as a 

special offering to the Chinese sage. 

" A few moments more, and the ceremonies were 
26 



402 Doomed Religions. 

brought to a conclusion by the retiring of the chief 
and subordinate mandarins in their sedans, a fact 
indicated most unmistakably by a tumultuous rush of 
idle men and boys toward the torches and fires, which 
until this time had been kept burning brightly, each 
seizing what he could of the ignited brands. Confu- 
sion prevailed at once, and lasted until the multitude 
had dispersed. In a very short time comparative 
darkness and silence reigned throughout the precincts 
of the temple w r here there had been so much pomp 
and parade. 

" Only those who had a public and official part to 
perform seemed solemn and reverential, while many 
of the spectators laughed, talked, and jested, appar- 
ently enjoying the performance in much the same 
manner as circus goers enjoyed a circus, or urchins at 
the West enjoy a show of rare and strange animals. 
The lictors or subordinates of the officers several 
times checked the idlers who happened to be near us, 
lest their mirth should attract the attention of their 
superiors. 

" It is said that, according to the established regu- 
lations, the carcasses of the animals used in sacrifice 
on the occasion of the vernal and the autumnal wor. 
ship of Confucius are subsequently cut up and divid- 
ed among the principal officials of the city. Some 
one has estimated that the number of temples dedi- 
cated to the Chinese sage, in all parts of the empire, 



Confucianism. 403 

is 1,560, and that 27,000 pieces of silk, and 62,606 
pigs, rabbits, sheep, and deer, not to specify the quan- 
tity of fruits, vegetables, etc., are annually presented 
upon their altars — an estimate which seems not to in- 
clude the number of bullocks slaughtered and offered 
as oblations in his honor." 

Is Confucianism a Religion ? 

Now that we have considered the teachings of 
Confucius, and examined the character of Confucian 
worship, we are prepared to judge of the claim of 
Confucianism to be considered a religion. If a sys- 
tem of ethical teaching, such as has been brought 
before us, is entitled to the name of religion ; or 
if such worship as that described by Mr. Doolittle 
constitutes religion ; then Confucianism may be so 
designated. But if religion implies, as we are accus- 
tomed to think, some teaching concerning our rela- 
tions to God, and some answer to the anxious queries 
of the soul concerning the future, Confucianism has 
no claim to be counted as a religion. It is true that 
the Rev. Dr. Legge, in his work on the " Religions 
of China, 1 ' devotes fifty-eight pages to the " Doctrine 
and Worship of God" pertaining to Confucianism; 
but in stating at the outset his use of the term " Con- 
fucianism,' ' he defines it " as covering, first of all, the 
ancient religion of the Chinese," with the establish- 
ment of which Confucius had no more to do than 



404 Doomed Religions. 

President Arthur had with the establishment of the 
present system of constitutional government in the 
United States. The greater part of the fifty-eight 
pages referred to could have been written just as well 
if Confucius had never existed ; for the facts con- 
nected with the ancient beliefs and worship of the 
Chinese, and the inferences to be drawn for them, are 
not affected by any thing that Confucius taught. It 
is not exactly correct either to give Confucius the 
credit of any thing good, or to attach to him the 
blame of any thing bad, in the religious views and 
practices which existed for centuries before he was 
born, as they have continued for centuries since he 
died. 

In Confucianism proper we find simply a system 
of human teaching, excellent in the main, concerning 
the relations of man to man ; and the problem which 
Confucianism has been solving for nearly twenty -five 
centuries is, the insufficiency of a knowledge of the 
respective duties of human relations without the 
knowledge of our relations to God. With moral 
teaching of unquestioned excellence, there has been 
no elevation of the moral standard, and no progress 
in genuine morality. It was a striking and appro- 
priate figure that Rev. Dr. Crawford used at the 
Missionary Conference in Shanghai, when he said : 
" Confucianism boasts of its teaching of the five rela- 
tions ; but it has only the five fingers without the 



Confucianism. 405 

palm on which they all depend, for it knows nothing 
of God." 

The Rev. Dr. Ashmore quotes the prayer of 
Tang, as transmitted by Confucius — "I, the child Li, 
presume to use a dark colored victim, and presume to 
announce to thee, O most great and sovereign God, 
that the offender I dare not pardon, and thy ministers, 
O God, I do not keep in obscurity ; the examination 
of them is by thy mind, O God." 

He then comments with great force as follows : 
"It is with the deepest interest that we follow the 
acute intellect of Confucius while thus transmitting 
the prayer of a monarch who lived more than a thou- 
sand years before himself, and almost in patriarchal 
times. Let him but take another step, we say, and 
he will be in the light ; he will have compassed the 
great conception that survived the antediluvian apos- 
tasy, but which now in his own era had ceased to be- 
come a constituent in the popular faith, namely, that 
of one living personal God. But disappointment fol- 
lows. That prayer of Tang's was the perihelion of 
Confucius. From hence he recedes farther and far- 
ther away, like those wandering stars that 

" ' Shoot from their glorious spheres away 
To darkle in the trackless void.' 

" It is but too evident that the whole subject of spir- 
itual beings was distasteful to him. So that in assign- 
ing him a status in the history of religious inquiry, 



406 Doomed Religions. 

we feel compelled to class him, not witli those who, 
like Plato and Socrates, were ' feeling after God,' — 
but with those others of whom Paul said, ' they did 
not like to retain God in their knowledge.' His con- 
tribution to the theology of his age was a contribu- 
tion of darkness, and not of light. Instead of retain- 
ing and seeking to understand better the name of God, 
or Supreme Ruler, which had been handed down to 
him, he showed a marked preference for the term 
' Heaven.' He substituted an impersonal power for 
the personal God. He led the public mind a prodig- 
ious stride in that defection which is expressed by 
'serving the creature more than the Creator.' " * 

There is much indeed that commands our admi- 
ration in this Chinese philosopher. We gladly ac- 
knowledge the general purity of his teachings. We 
observe with pleasure the good influence he has ex- 
erted over the minds of his countrymen. We yield 
him high honor for enunciating a negative form of 
the Golden Rule. But we feel that there is a great 
lack somewhere. We miss the link of connection 
with deity ; the sense of the power that comes from 
on high. Our souls find no response to their yearn- 
ings for light upon the great future. 

Confucianism is altogether passive ; Christianity 
is radically active. Confucianism gropes in igno- 
rance of God ; Christianity takes hold upon him and 
* "Chinese Recorder," vol. ii, March, 1870. 



Confucianism. 407 

brings him to us. Confucianism stands in darkness 
at the tomb ; Christianity makes it all radiant with 
the beams of eternal glory. 

We turn from the great sage of China to the peer- 
less Sage of Nazareth, in whom we find all for which 
the human spirit longs — forgiveness, guidance, vic- 
tory here, and ineffable bliss hereafter : and, grateful 
for our priceless possession, consecrate ourselves anew 
to the work of making him and his salvation known 
to all the nations of the earth. 

With this general review of Confucius and his teach- 
ings, certain practical questions remain to be consid- 
ered. In prosecuting the work of Christian missions, 
how do we come into contact with Confucianism? 
What ought to be our attitude in regard to it ? How 
may we most successfully win Confucianists to Christ? 

Our Bearing Toward Confucianism. 
If Confucianism did not present itself at all in the 
light of a religion, there would scarcely be any need 
of considering our relations to it. Most of its eth- 
ical teachings might be quoted in support of Chris- 
tianity, and enlarged upon to great advantage. The 
Christian missionary may often say to the Chinese, 
" as your own great sage has said," as appropriately 
as Paul said to the Athenians, "as certain also of 
your own poets have said." But unfortunately there 
is just enough of the religious element in Confucian- 



408 Doomed Religions. 

ism to make it a serious obstacle to Christianity. By 
its teachings in regard to the duties growing out of 
human relations, it answers certain demands of the 
religious nature ; and men who, in the absence of all 
other religious teaching, would readily find their way 
to Christianity, find a stopping-place in Confucianism. 
They persuade themselves that they are living justly 
and honorably in their relations to their fellow-men ; 
that they are free from violations of moral law ; and 
that, in acknowledging their ignorance of God, they 
are acting the part of wise men. It is not difficult 
for the thoughtful student of the religious character 
of men to see in the Conf ucianists of China the coun- 
terparts of the Christless religionists of our own land 
— the men who say, " We are living righteously ; we 
are trying to benefit our fellow-men ; we do not pro- 
fess to know any thing about God, or to reveal the 
unknowable future." And just as this class of pro- 
fessed moralists is exceedingly hard to reach with 
Gospel truth in America, so are their brother agnos- 
tics hard to reach with Christian truth in China. A 
heathen may be shown the folly of his image worship 
and of his superstitious ceremonies ; the conscience 
of a thief or an adulterer may be aroused until, in 
agony of soul, he cries out for mercy ; but the man 
who looks with lofty contempt on the popular idol- 
atry, who detests the crimes of the rabble, and who 
prides himself on his good deeds, seems clad in armor 



Confucianism. 409 

of steel against the arrows of truth. Intellectual 
pride is fostered by their knowledge of the classics, 
and the deference shown them by the common peo- 
ple on that account; and spiritual pride is fostered 
by their profession of conformity to the moral max- 
ims of Confucius, in connection with their haughty 
disdain for the superstitious observances of the 
multitude. 

This state of facts renders the question of our true 
attitude in regard to Confucianism somewhat difficult 
of solution ; and it is not to be wondered at that 
missionaries have differed widely in their opinions on 
this matter. The view of those who look upon Con- 
fucianism as an ally rather than an enemy of Chris- 
tianity are so well presented by the Rev. Dr. Legge, 
in his essay written from Oxford for the General 
Conference of Missionaries at Shanghai, in 1877, that 
I quote his concluding paragraphs entire : 

" In the preceding imperfect sketch of Confucian- 
ism in relation to Christianity, I have tried to make 
it appear that the former is in many important points 
defective rather than antagonistic, and one practical 
conclusion to which I come is, that missionaries 
should endeavor not to exhibit themselves as antago- 
nistic to Confucius and Confucianism. 

" Paul tells us that ' the powers that be ' are or- 
dained of God ; and Mencius, quoting substantially 
from the c Great Declaration ' in the Sha, said that 



410 Doomed Religions. 

' Heaven, having produced the inferior people, made 
for them rulers.' So far the Christian doctrine and the 
doctrine of China are at one. The Shu and Mencius 
add that ' Heaven also made for the people instruct- 
ors, who, as well as the rulers, should be assisting to 
God.' I am inclined to accept this saying also, and 
to believe that Confucius — not to specify others — was 
raised up by God for the instruction of the Chinese 
people. That his system of teaching was not com- 
plete, is only in harmony with the divine plan in the 
communication of truth to mankind ; for during all 
the ages in which God was speaking to the Jewish 
people and their fathers, at sundry times and in di- 
vers manners, the system which we have in the New 
Testament from Christ and his apostles was far from 
being fully shown. As to the errors of religious 
worship which I have pointed out under my second 
head of remark, we cannot tell when and how they 
were introduced. If we suppose that God left the 
wise men of China to fall into these, < that he might 
bring to naught the understanding of the prudent, 
and destroy the wisdom of the wise,' that need not 
interfere with our admitting that those men were 
especially helped by God, that he might keep up 
some knowledge of himself, and of the way of duty 
among: the millions of their race. 

"Whatever may be thought of the above view, 
that we may regard Confucius himself as a man sent 



Confucianism. 411 

of God, 1 do not doubt that there will be an agree- 
ment in the Conference as to missionaries making 
the best use they can of what is good and true in the 
Confucian system, to give to the Chinese the knowl- 
edge of Christianity. The judgment of Paul about 
the law contained in the Old Testament was, that 
' it w T as a school-master to lead us to Christ,' and I 
think that much in Confucianism may be made 
to serve a similar purpose with the Chinese. Let the 
missionary, therefore, show a willing appreciation of 
what is good in the system ; and where he can see 
defects in the character of the sage himself, and es- 
pecially in his want of historical truth in the CKun 
ChHu, let him lay bare his nakedness with a tender 
hand — even with a more tender hand and a more 
bated breath than he would employ in exposing the 
dissembling of Peter at Antioch. 

" How best to awaken in the minds of the Chinese 
a sense of sin, which is all-important to their accept- 
ance of the doctrine of the cross, it is not easy to de- 
termine. There is the saying in the Analects, c He 
who offends against heaven has none to whom he 
can pray ; ' but is it not our common experience that 
to the people in the mass, and perhaps still more to 
the scholars of the nation, there belongs a cold and 
unspiritual type of character ? The prevailing secu- 
larism of Confucianism has made them very much of 
the earth, earthy. What can we do but unfold to 



412 Doomed Keligions. 

them, with prayers and pains, what truth there is in 
Confucianism about God and his moral government, 
and about themselves, leading them on to deeper, 
richer truth about the same subjects in Christianity ? 
Above all, we must set before them the testimony of 
Scripture about Christ and his redeeming work, 
knowing that it is by taking of the things of Christ 
and showing them to men, that the Holy Spirit con- 
vinces of sin and righteousness and judgment. 

"I will now conclude by referring to a conver- 
sation which I had not very long ago on missions 
with one of the ablest and most learned men in 
England, a very broad Churchman, and perhaps 
something more. 'I have read and thought,' he 
said, i about the work of missionaries, and approve of 
what they are doing ; but I think they might find 
a more excellent way than that which they generally 
take to accomplish their end. 5 I asked him what way 
of missionaries made him express himself in such a 
manner ; and he replied, ' You dash too much into 
collision with the existing heathen religions, and 
speak too bitterly of their great teachers.' I told him 
that so far as my knowledge of missionaries and 
their work went, he was laboring under a misappre- 
hension as to their methods ; that they were glad to 
recognize whatever was good and true in the heathen 
religions, and careful not to excite angry feelings in 
their hearers by speaking evil of dignities, and rashly 



Confucianism. 413 

condemning the great names they had been accus- 
tomed to venerate. He would be glad to think so, 
he said ; but he still seemed unconvinced. After 
leaving him I mused on our conversation, and have 
often mused on it since, something in the following 
way : 

" Christianity cannot be tacked on to any heathen 
religion as its complement nor can it absorb any into 
itself without great changes in it and additions to it. 
Missionaries have not merely to reform, though it 
w T ould be well for them to reform where and what 
they can ; they have to revolutionize ; and as no rev- 
olution of a political kind can be effected without 
disturbance of existing conditions, so neither can 
a revolution of a people's religion be brought about 
without heat and excitement. Confucianism is not 
antagonistic to Christianity, as Buddhism and Brah- 
manism are. It is not atheistic, like the former, nor 
pantheistic, like the latter. It is, however, a system 
whose issues are bounded by earth and by time ; and 
though missionaries try to acknowledge what is good 
in it, and to use it as not abusing it, they cannot 
avoid sometimes seeming to pull down Confucius 
from his elevation. They cannot set forth the Gospel 
as the wisdom of God and the power of God unto sal- 
vation, and exhort to the supreme love of God and of 
Christ, without deploring the want of any deep sense 
of sin and of any glow of piety in the followers of 



414 Doomed Keligions. 

the Chinese sage. Let them seek to go about their 
work every- where — and I believe they can do so more 
easily in China than in other mission fields — in the 
spirit of Christ, without striving or crying, with 
meekness and lowliness of heart. Let no one think 
any labor too great to make himself f amiliar with the 
Confucian books. So shall missionaries in China 
come fully to understand the work they have to do ; 
and the more they avoid driving their carriages 
rudely over the master's grave, the more likely are 
they soon to see Jesus enthroned in his room in the 
hearts of the people." 

There is much in these words of Dr. Legge with 
which all missionaries can cordially agree ; yet many 
hold to the view that Confucianism must be dis- 
tinctly counted among the enemies of Christianity 
in the battle that is being waged in China. Uni- 
tarianism can hardly be recognized as an ally of evan- 
gelical Christianity, though it has much to say about 
God and morality that may meet with our hearty ap- 
proval. Its denial of the necessity of a divine 
Saviour puts it in radical opposition to the forces of 
evangelism. In like manner Confucianism stands 
among the opposing forces of Christianity in China. 
The necessary work to be done with the Confucianist 
is to show him that he is a sinner ; to reveal God to 
him, not only as the Ruler of the universe, but as a 
God of justice and holiness ; to help him to a knowl- 



Confucianism. 415 

edge of the reality of future existence, and of re- 
wards and punishments in the eternal state. The 
spirit in which this is done may be in accord with 
Dr. Legge's suggestions ; but we must give the proud 
Confucianist no reason for supposing that his own 
system is pretty nearly perfect, and that Christianity 
simply comes in to supply some of its slight deficien- 
cies. He must be led to see that the difference be- 
tween trusting to one's own power of self-rectifica- 
tion and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ for forgive- 
ness and salvation is as wide as the difference be- 
tween sin and holiness, between hell and heaven. 
His spiritual darkness must be illuminated by the 
Sun of Righteousness ; his sluggish conscience must 
be aroused, until his realization of need for super- 
human help shall drive him to the cross of Christ. 

Conversion to Christianity. 

The difficulty of bringing Confucianists to the 
self- abasing religion of Jesus has been spoken of. 
Nevertheless, when converted, they become strong 
Christians. The instances of conversion from this class 
are not as yet very numerous. It still remains true 
that " not many wise men after the flesh, not many 
mighty, not many noble, are called." Still there are 
instances in different missions of the sound conver- 
sion of Confucianists, sufficient to show the power of 
Christ to subdue the stubborn heart, and bring the 



416 Doomed Religions. 

proud Chinese literate to a humble Christian life. In 
our own mission at Foochow, the case of Sia Sek 
Ong is a striking example. While engaged as a 
teacher for one of the missionaries, he heard, through 
the open door between the chapel and the study, the 
voice of Li Yu Mi, a converted blacksmith, declaring 
that " there is no salvation except through the name 
of Jesus." His Confucian pride was touched, and 
he said to himself, " How does this blacksmith dare 
to tell our Chinese people that they must go to a for- 
eigner for salvation ? Confucius has taught us the 
five relations ; and we do not need to go outside for 
help." Full of angry feeling, he arose, and shut the 
door. But the words of the preacher, like a barbed 
arrow, had penetrated his heart. The more he as- 
serted to himself the sufficiency of Confucianism, the 
more uneasy and restless did he feel. That night he 
tossed on his bed, the prey of many anxious thoughts. 
His soul had entered upon a great struggle. As the 
query, " How do I stand before the Ruler of the uni- 
verse ? " pressed itself home upon his conscience, he 
realized that Confucianism had no helping hand for 
him. As he *asked, " How shall it be with me after 
death ? " he w T as forced to confess to himself that no 
light was to be found in the teachings of the great 
sage. Then the thought began to take form, " Sup- 
pose the blacksmith should be right ? Suppose that 
this Jesus whom he preaches should be, indeed, the 



CONFUCIANISN. 417 

Saviour of the world ? Then I am fighting against 
the only one who can help me." Then he began to 
pray to God, whose very existence he only dimly 
recognized, to help him and lead him into the truth. 
Wherever that prayer is offered by earnest heart, the 
answer comes. As it came to the Gentile Cornelius, 
so it came to the Confucian Sia ; and it was not long 
before his proud heart was humbled at the foot of the 
cross, and he found peace for his troubled conscience, 
trusting in Jesus. He gave up his chances for promo- 
tion at the literary examinations, on which his heart 
had been previously set, and soon became a devoted 
preacher of the Gospel. He met with much perse- 
cution, and scornful treatment from former friends ; 
but steadily pursued his way as a faithful Christian 
minister. The following extract from a sermon 
preached by him on the text, " If any man will come 
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, 
and follow me," will show what a complete change 
had taken place in the heart of this Conf ucianist : 

u I think you all greatly desire to be Jesus' s follow- 
ers. You must, then, first consider what manner of 
man Jesus was. He was not rich, nor honored, nor 
great. He was poor, despised, lonely. We must be 
willing to be the same. We must not try to meet 
him in the dark, when nobody can see us, like Nico- 
demus ; but we must openly follow him. We must 

not follow him, like the five thousand, for the loaves 

27 



418 Doomed Keligions. 

and the fishes; nor, like the sons of Zebedee, for 
worldly honors. We must not follow him to dwell 
on the mountain-top, but follow him because he has 
the words of life, and there is no one else who can 
give them to us. If we follow him, our enemies will 
be those of our own households; but we must still 
follow. Whether theroad be smooth or rough, or if 
it carries us into the waves of the sea, still we must 
follow. We cannot go on the mountain-top, and 
build three tents, and stay there. We must follow 
him out of the city, into the garden of Gethsemane, 
to the mockery of the soldiers, to being spitten upon, 
to Calvary, to the cross ! We must hear him ex. 
claim, ' Why hast thou left me, O my God ? ' and 
still follow him. Follow him to death, to the grave. 
And shall we stop here ? O no ! Who can keep 
Jesus in the grave ? Nobody ! nobody ! We will fol- 
low him in the resurrection to life. But we will not 
stop there. The Head has ascended to heaven ; the 
members shall also. There is no help for it, but they 
must follow their Head. Then we will look back over 
the way, see the dangers, the unnumbered trials, we 
have passed, and as we tremble, God himself shall 
wipe away all tears from our eyes. Then when we 
think upon the means of our salvation, we will find it 
has not been by our good works, or deeds of merit, 
but just by following Jesus wherever he has led, until 
all the dangers of the way have been surmounted." 



Confucianism. 419 

It is the old story. When Christ enters the heart, 
pride is cast out, and the self -righteousness of Con- 
fucianism is abandoned. Our work in China in this 
respect is not different from that in other countries. 
We are to preach Christ and him crucified ; and the 
faithful preaching of Christ, with the aid of the 
Divine Spirit, shall yet bring China to the cross. 

The Rev. Dr. Legge, after long and faithful study 
of Confucius and his writings, and with a strong in- 
clination to view them favorably, says : 

"He threw no new light on any of the questions 
which have a world-wide interest. He gave no im- 
pulse to religion. He had no sympathy with prog- 
ress. His influence has been wonderful ; but it will 
henceforth wane. My opinion is that the faith of 
the nation in him will speedily and extensively pass 
away." 

However this may be, it is certain that the awak- 
ening intellect and conscience of China cannot be sat- 
isfied with the negative character of Confucianism in 
regard to religious truth and experience. Searching 
for truth, she will find it in the Divine Word ; long- 
ing for help, she will find it in the Divine Spirit ; 
realizing the need of a personal Saviour, she will find 
him in the Man of Calvary. 



420 Doomed Religions. 



LIFELESS AND CORRUPT FORMS OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 



BY REV. C. H. FOWLER, D.D., LL.D., 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

METHODISM exists in order to "spread script- 
ural holiness" "Wherever a human heart is 
without this spiritual blessing, there Methodism has 
a field. It has been providentially developed as the 
latest great type of religious life. It belongs to the 
last dispensation. 

We have had the dispensation of nature, giving 
the sense of want ; the dispensation of the law, giv- 
ing the sense of guilt ; the dispensation of the New 
Testament, giving hope through faith ; and the dis- 
pensation of the Holy Spirit, giving the conscious- 
ness of adoption into the heavenly family. Meth- 
odism, theologically, chronologically, and experiment- 
ally, belongs to the dispensation of the Spirit. For 
its distinguishing doctrine is that of the witness of 
the Spirit certifying to every believer his state of 
grace. 

There are many Methodists who do not live up to 



Lifeless ajstd Corrupt Christianity. 421 

their privilege, who come short of practical sanctify 
cation ; but the production of a Church without spot 
or wrinkle, whose every member is a living stone in 
the living temple, is the especial call of Methodism. 
So long as Methodists believe that every person must 
be born again and be made holy, as an individual, 
through the voluntary personal exercise of faith, so 
long Methodism will have a mission, not only to 
peoples under heathen superstitions, but also to all 
peoples in the embrace of Christian Churches that 
are devoid of spiritual life and power. 

The one category that embraces all forms of nom- 
inally Christian Churches which cumber the ground, 
bearing little spiritual fruit, is " State Churchism." 
This is the worst and most powerful enemy of Chris- 
tianity ever developed in the history of the race. It 
is the devil's masterpiece. It is the devil's incarna- 
tion as an angel of light. 

Many noble souls have found their way into most 
intimate and blessed fellowship with God in each 
and every form of the Christian Church. But it 
has been in spite of relations to the State. Earnest 
and believing souls, with the Bible in their hands, 
always find God. The supreme evil is in that com- 
bination of machinery and appliances by which the 
Church is incorporated into the machinery of the 
State. This nexus is always a political hierarchy. 
This is the spirit of this world wearing the name of 



422 Doomed Keligions. 

a better. It produces a proud, overbearing, worldly 
caste, who stand in the way of true advancement in 
spiritual life. 

Let this distinction between the humble and hun- 
gry souls of the flock and the hierarchy, who lord it 
over the Church, be constantly borne in mind. It 
makes broad charity easy without making it conceal 
a multitude of sins. A careful study of the dead or 
apostatized or perverted Churches will illustrate that 
this key unlocks all the mysteries in these great ec- 
clesiastical caverns. 

The processes by which death spreads from the 
head to the members are patent to even an ordinary 
observer. They lie on the surface. God seems un- 
willing to connive at the crime by concealing its 
course, so he stamps its processes of death upon the 
very face of the system. Ambition for power dis- 
places that spirit which in honor prefers one another. 
"With humility departs the comforting Spirit of God. 
The spirit of the world establishes worldly standards 
of measurement. The judgment becomes biased; 
the very sources of conviction are poisoned. The 
hierarch, then, does well to maintain mere worldly 
honor, and must need compete for worldly distinc- 
tions with worldly agencies. The hierarchy, as a 
mass, is out of sympathy with spiritual life, which 
abides only in meekness and holiness. It uses spir- 
itual and ecclesiastical terms for worldly ends. The 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 423 

use of Church machinery and nomenclature is made 
a half-way stopping place between mere State in- 
trigue and avowed hypocrisy. Soon the hierarchy 
find a sort of torpid indifference, which takes the 
place of rest. Then the holy offices of the Church 
are reached and held, not by a divine spiritual 
call, but by natural scheming. The worldly Church 
dignitary, being a chief political functionary, is no 
longer expected to have spiritual life, but politi- 
cal sagacity. It is well if he maintain reputable 
living. 

The sinking of the minister into the politician 
makes easy the sinking of the Christian into the 
mere citizen. To be born under the national flag, 
then, precludes the necessity of being born again. 
All that is needed is some ceremony that recognizes 
this right of the citizen, which opens his way to all 
rights in the State. 

The result is almost universal spiritual deadness, 
while the arms and uniforms of spiritual life are 
used and the motions of Church drill are practiced 
with no thought of what this drill should mean. 
Death spreads from the head to the extremities. 
At the door of every such charnel-house, into 
which people are born naturally, Jesus stands, as he 
did of old, before the people born into the national 
Church of the Jews, crying, "Ye must be honx 
again." 



424 Doomed Religions. 

Wherever the State Church exists there spiritual 
deadness obtains. There are noble individual ex- 
ceptions. The voice that called Wesley, and spoke 
Methodism into life in Protestant England, calls his 
followers and disciples into every land blighted with 
a State Church, that they may speak these forms 
into life. The call of Wesley was not a question of 
geography, but of life. It was not to the islands of 
the United Kingdoms only, but to all who were suf- 
fering like bondage. The field is vast, the work |s 
arduous ; but the power is infinite, and the resources 
are exhaustless. 

The great State Churches are four : 1. The 
Church of England ; 2. The Lutheran Church ; 
3. The Greek Church ; and, 4. The Eoman Catho- 
lic Church. Of these the first two are parts of 
Protestantism, and so stand together in a wide gener- 
alization. As these two make up State-established 
Protestantism, it will be sufficiently accurate for a 
general or birds'-eye view of the field to measure 
the great systems as State Protestantism, the Greek 
Church, and Romanism. 

The vast figures that present their numbers and 
habitats are worth study, and indicate the sweep of 
the work we have inherited. 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 425 

Independent States under Christian Governments, 1876. 
States inclusive of Colonies and Dependencies. 

PROTESTANT STATES. $82? tSff 1 ' 

British Empire 8,755,159 283,604,841 

German Empire 208,729 41,060,864 

United States 3,611,844 38,555,983 

Netherlands 674,100 26,569,000 

Sweden and Norway 294,030 6,063,800 

Madagascar 228,600 5,000,000 

Switzerland 15,992 2,669,147 

Denmark 54,308 1,988,000 

Liberia 9,567 718,000 

Transvaal Republic 114,000 300,000 

Orange Free State 42,479 57,000 

Sandwich Islands 7,629 56,877 

Australian Isles, exclusive of European 

possessions 320,750 1,926,100 

Total Protestant 14,337,187 408,569,612 

ROMAN CATHOLIC STATES. 

France 577,195 41,736,000 

Austro-Hungary 240,954 35,904,435 

Italy 114,409 26,801,154 

Spain 316,075 25,196,100 

Brazil 3,288,100 10,296,238 

Mexico 741,823 9,158,247 

Portugal 741,625 8,028,500 

Belgium - 11,373 5,253,821 

Columbia 320,738 2,894,992 

Peru 503,468 2,500,000 

Chili 126,034 2,074,000 

Bolivia 500,880 2,000,000 

Argentine Confederation 838,605 1,812,500 

Venezuela 403,272 1,784,194 

Ecuador 248,300 1,308,000 

Guatemala 40,778 1,194,000 

San Salvador 7,335 600,000 

Hayti .... 9,233 572,000 



426 Doomed Religions. 

States, inclusive of Colonies and Square Inhab- 

Dependencies. Miles. itants. 

Honduras 47,092 350,000 

Uruguay 69,800 300,000 

Nicaragua 58,169 250,000 

Paraguay 56,714 221,079 

Luxemburg , 999 197,528 

Costa Rica 21,433 185,000 

San Domingo 19,959 136,500 

Andarra 144 12,000 

Lichtenstein 68 8,060 

SanMarino 24 7,816 

Monaco 6 5,741 

Total Roman Catholic States 9,304,605 180,787,905 



EASTERN CHURCH STATES. 

Russian Empire 8,535,142 85,686,000 

Roumania 46,710 4,500,000 

Abyssinia 158,400 . 3,000,000 

Greece 19,353 1,457,894 

Servia , 16,817 1,338,000 

Montenegro 1,701 120,000 

Total Eastern Church States 8,778,123 96,101,894 

Aggregate under Christian governments. . 32,419,915 685,459,411 
(Dorchester's Table XXXIX, on the authority of Prof. Schem.) 

Let ns turn from the political to the intellectual 
elements of the problem. 

The following statement of the doctrines held by 
the Greek Church, with the indications of diver- 
gence from Romanism and Protestantism, taken from 
Winer, with corrections from Dr. Lindsay, of Scot- 
land, gives us a condensed view of what is held by 
Christendom. Some peculiarities of Romanism may 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 427 

need further mention. [Small capitals denote dif- 
ferences from Roman Catholic ; italics, differences 
from State-established Protestant doctrine :] 

u Christianity is a divine revelation communicated 
to mankind through Christ ; its saving truths are to 
be learned from the Bible and tradition ; the for- 
mer having been written, and the latter maintained 
uncorrupted, through the influence of the Holy 
Spirit ; the interpretation of the Bible belongs to the 
Church, which is taught by the Holy Spirit, but 
every believer may read the Scriptures. 

" According to the Christian revelation, God is 
a trinity ; that is, the divine essence exists in three 
persons, perfectly equal in nature and dignity, the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; the Holy 
Ghost proceeds from the Father only. Besides 
the triune God there is no other object of divine 
worship, but homage ({mepdovXia) may be paid to the 
Virgin Mary, and reverence (dovXia) to the saints 
and to their pictures and relics. Man is born with 
a corrupt bias which was not his at creation ; the first 
man, when created, possessed immortality, perfect 

WISDOM, AND A WILL REGULATED BY REASON. Through 

the first sin Adam and his posterity lost immortality, 

AND HIS WILL RECEIVED A BIAS TOWARD EVIL. In this 

natural state man, even before he actually sins, is a 
sinner before God by original or inherited sin, com- 
mits manifold actual transgressions ; but he is not 



428 Doomed Religions. 

absolutely without power of will toward God, and is 
not always doing evil. Christ, the Son of God, be- 
came man in two natures, which, internally and in- 
separably united, make one person, and, according to 
the eternal purpose of God, has obtained for man 
reconciliation with God and eternal life, inasmuch 
as he by his vicarious death has made satisfaction to 
God for the world's sins, and this satisfaction was 

PERFECTLY COMMENSURATE WITH THE SINS OF THE 

world. Man is made partaker of reconciliation in 
spiritual regeneration, which he attains to, being led 
and kept by the Holy Ghost. This divine help is 
offered to all men without distinction, and may he 
forfeited. In order to attain to salvation man is 
justified, and when so justified can do no more 
than the commands of God. He may fall from a 
state of grace through mortal sin. 

" Regeneration is offered by the "Word of God and 
in the sacraments, which under visible signs commu- 
nicate God's invisible grace to Christians when ad- 
ministered cum intentione. There are seven mys- 
teries or sacraments. Baptism entirely destroys orig- 
inal sin. In the Eucharist, the true body and blood 
of Christ are substantially present, and the elements 
a/re changed into the substance of Christ, whose body 
and blood are corporeally partaken of by communi- 
cants. All Christians should receive the bread and 
the wine. 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 429 

" The Eucharist is also an expiatory sacrifice. 
The new birth when lost may be restored through 
repentance, which is not merely (1) sincere sorrow, 
but also (2) confession of each individual sin to the 
priest, and (3) the discharge of penances imposed by 
the priest for the removal of the temporal punish- 
merit which may have been imposed by God and the 
Church. Penance, accompanied by the judicial ab- 
solution of the priest, makes a true sacrament. 

" The Church of Christ is the fellowship of all 

THOSE WHO ACCEPT AND PROFESS ALL THE ARTICLES OF 
FAITH TRANSMITTED BY THE APOSTLES AND APPROVED 

by general synods. Without this visible Church 
there is no salvation. It is under the abiding in- 
fluence of the Holy Ghost, and therefore cannot err 
in matters of faith. 

" Specially appointed persons are necessary in the 
service of the Church, and they form a threefold 
order, distinct jure divino from other Christians, 
of bishops, priests, and deacons. The four patri- 
archs, OF EQUAL DIGNITY, HAVE THE HIGHEST RANK 
AMONG THE BISHOPS, AND THE BISHOPS United in a 

General Council represent the Church, and infallibly 
decide, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, all 
matters of faith and ecclesiastical life. All ministers 
of Christ must be regularly called and appointed to 
their office, and are consecrated by the sacrament of 
orders. Bishops must be unmarried, and priests 



430 Doomed Religions. 

and deacons must not contract a second marriage. 
To all priests in common belongs, besides the preach- 
ing of the word, the administration of the six sacra- 
ments BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION, PENANCE, EUCHARIST, 

matrimony, unction of the sick. The hishops alone 
can administer the sacrament of orders. Ecclesias- 
tical ceremonies are jpa/rt of the divine service / most 
of them have apostolic origin / and those connected 
with the sacraments must not he omitted hy priests 
under pain of mortal sin" 

Each of these great systems of faith here presented 
needs additional consideration. 

The non-established Churches consists, first, of the 
Churches in the United States, with 3,611,844 square 
miles, and 50,000,000 of people, and over 10,000,000 of 
evangelical communicants. Here the model of &free 
Church in a free State is working with greater vigor 
and satisfaction than any other Church system that 
has appeared in the history of religious struggle and 
growth ; second, of the Dissenting and Independent 
Churches of Great Britain. These furnish the outside 
spot over which God will lift all the others into life. 

Church of England. The conflict with the Church 
of England began long ago, when Wesley, driven from 
her church building, went out to his father's grave and 
made the very dead cry out against the dead Church. 
This contest is being waged by English Wesleyans 
and by Dissenters. We have no call to grapple with 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 431 

this form of error, where Methodism has gained so 
many victories. 

Lutheranism needs but little addition to what has 
been said concerning Protestantism by the italics 
above. It needs to be kept in mind, that while it was 
a great protest against the superstitions and corrup- 
tion of Romanism, it was also a protest against the 
cruelty and despotism of Eome. This made it a State 
matter. Its cradle was rocked by princes. No feebler 
hands could have protected the restless babe. It was 
also the revolt of the intellect against the authority 
of Roman dogmatism. This made its preaching, dis- 
cussion of doctrines, and its conventions, councils for 
determining creeds. Its confessions and its wars 
crystallized it into a State Religion. 

Thus its formalism and spiritual deadness were 
inherited from the very strifes out of which it was 
born. To a Protestant of the United States its con- 
substantiation and its formalism are stones of offense. 
Its hierarchy, though an oligarchy rather than a 
despotism, is the fruitful source of all evil. A 
religion that is a mere matter of geography and 
national prejudice, that demands no new life, no 
personal faith, no spiritual testimony, may have less 
errors than Romanism, as it has less centuries of 
growth — and more national pride and patriotism, as 
it centers in the local State — and less superstition, as 
it gives greater authority to the Bible; yet it has 



432 Doomed Religions. 

little power to save men who need a new birth, and 
must be spiritually developed. 

This is manifest in the disregard of the Sabbath in 
countries where its word is law. Its men see the 
Church when christened, when confirmed, when mar- 
ried, and are there when buried. Beyond these occa- 
sions little heed is paid to religion. Some attend 
service in the morning, and seek their pleasure in the 
afternoon. The women seem more devout, and at- 
tend more frequently. Lutheran princes and soldiers 
may drive back the cruel forces of Rome, and thus 
make room for a better dispensation. Is there not a 
call to Methodism coming out of this opportunity ? 

It should be remembered here that every-where 
our missionaries have gone into these spiritually dead 
lands, whether in Germany, or Switzerland, or Nor- 
way, or Sweden, or Denmark, there their presence 
has imparted new life. One poorly-attended service 
in the Established Churches has been quickened, in 
centers where our missions are planted, into two serv- 
ices and a Sabbath-school, with a vigorous prayer- 
meeting in the week. God hasten the day when this 
evangelical power shall sweep throughout every Lu- 
theran Church in the world ! Disestablishment must 
precede this visitation. 

The Greek Church inspires us chiefly by its num- 
bers. Its spiritual life is hardly so much as a name. 
It is an arm of government for those in authority, a 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 433 

hand of oppression to those underneath. State-craft 
and priest-craft are the crutches that prop up the Rus- 
sian despotism. While it has the letter of the Bible, 
its religion is mere ceremony. A festival once a 
year, in which tapers are blessed and lighted by the 
priest, cannot do much saving work. 

It has some points at which it bears favorable com- 
parison with Romanism. Romanism is a despotism 
in a single hand. The Greek Church is an oligarchy, 
with despotic power, modified by the variety of hands 
holding it. 

Romanism acknowledges no national lines. Every 
power must come under her authority. The Greek 
Church recognizes various national lines, and con- 
forms herself to local States. As a consequence, 
Rome has lost no land except Africa. The Greek 
Church has lost much land, but she has preserved her 
polity. The head of the Church has gone with the 
people. Rome brought under her dominion all the 
peoples she touched. German, Saxon, Goth, and 
Lombard became Roman Catholic. But the Greek 
Church has not tranforrned her people. Arab, Kurd, 
Seljak, and Ottoman remain as they were before con- 
tact with the Greek Church. Rome was practical, 
rising to her greatest strength in framing, executing, 
and extending law. Greeks, and the molding power 
in the old Greek Empire, were philosophical. These 

elements modified the Church life of each. Roman 
28 



434 Doomed Religions. 

theologians developed anthropology, showing man's, 
nature and needs. The Greek theologians developed 
theology, the doctrines concerning God. Both are 
cursed with government support, with an unregen- 
erate hierarchy, and with formalism that is the crea- 
tion of government patronage. 

Romanism. It is difficult to present, in a few brief 
lines, the character of this vast system of cruelty and 
hypocrisy and corruption which God has persistently 
tried to expose through so many centuries and by so 
many peoples, writing and cross-writing over every 
yard of the earth the awful debaucheries and perfidies 
of this diabolical system of desolation. 

In addition to her doctrines, set forth above, w r e 
ought to add some important dogmas now held by 
Romanists. 

The Immaculate Conception, that is, " the Blessed Virgin 
Mary, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in 
view of the merits of Christ Jesus, the Saviour of mankind, 
has been preserved free from all stain of original sin." 

Infallibility. The Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathe- 
dra, is in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all 
Christians by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority; he 
defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals, is possessed of that 
infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that his 
Church should be endowed, and therefore such definitions of 
the Roman Pontiff are irreformable of themselves, and not put 
from the consent of the Church. 

Accept this dogma, and all liberty dies out of the 
world ; all nations sink into dependencies of Eome ; 



Lifeless and Coeeupt Cheistianity. 435 

all hope expires amid the universal wailing of un- 
broken despair. There would remain but one man 
in all the earth, and he, gorged with blood, would 
occupy St. Peter's chair. 

Add to these evil forces of Rome the following 
doctrines required of every believer, and you give 
variety to her forms of evil. 

I constantly hold that there is a purgatory, and that the souls 
therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. 

I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ 
in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to 
Christian people. 

It is hardly necessary to add that these fearful 
doctrines, Purgatory and Indulgences, are the false 
keys with which Rome unlocks all the safes and 
treasury vaults of those who accept these doctrines. 
By these she robs the orphans of the faithful and be- 
comes the burglar and highwayman of the nations. 

Tetzel's exhortations in the days of Luther ran thus : 

Come, and I will give you letters, all properly sealed, by 
which even the sins you intend to commit may be pardoned. 
I will not change my privileges for those of St. Peter in 
heaven, for I have saved more souls by my indulgences than 
the apostle by his sermons. . . . There is no sin, however 
great, that an indulgence cannot remit. . . . Indulgences 
avail not only for the living but for the dead. ... At the very 
instant that the money rattles at the bottom of the chest, the 
soul escapes from purgatory, and flies liberated to heaven. 

Is it thought that this is only the dead superstition 
of a departed age ? Go to the great Cathedral in 



436 Doomed Religions. 

'New York, the most magnificent and costly structure 
on this continent, the head-quarters of the American 
Cardinal, the Prince under the flag of the Republic, 
and on its doors for weeks this autumn may be read, 
printed in large plain letters, notice of indulgences to 
be purchased for certain sums of money. The price 
of pardon was set down in clear open figures. The 
terms in which these indulgences were advertised 
were quite as offensive as the terms cited above from 
Tetzel. 

This is the robbery of humble and ignorant souls in 
the broad light of the last quarter of this nineteenth 
century, in enlightened America. The professional 
burglar could part with his " kit " more easily than 
Rome, the baptized burglar, could part with this 
dogma. 

Again, it must be remembered that Rome anathe- 
matizes the Bible, She places tradition and the 
Church interpretation of the Bible above the Bible 
itself. 

Pius VII. issued a bull in which he charges the 
circulation of the Scriptures as " undermining the 
foundations of religion, as a crafty device, a pestilence 
which must be abolished, a defilement of the faith, 
eminently dangerous to souls." 

In 1818 the pope addressed a bull to the Irish 
bishops against the Methodists circulating the Script- 
ures in the schools, calling it " sowing tares among 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 437 

the wheat ; that the children are by this means in- 
fected with the fatal poison of depraved doctrines." 

How fearful such anathemas sound when one reads 
from the Supreme Authority : " He established a tes- 
timony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which 
he commanded our fathers, that they should make 
them known to their children," etc. Psa. lxxviii, 5. 
Rome cannot believe that " the law of the Lord is per- 
fect, converting the soul : the testimony of the Lord 
is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the 
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart : the command- 
ment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. . . . 
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether." Psa. xix, 7. 

Eead the advice of the bishops to Pope Julius III., 
given when asked how best to strengthen the Church : 

Lastly of all the advice we can give your Beatitude, we have 
reserved to the end the most important, namely, that as little 
as possible of the Gospel (especially in the vulgar tongue) be 
read in all countries subject to your jurisdiction. The little 
which is usually read at mass is sufficient, and beyond that no 
one whatever must be permitted to read. While men were 
contented with that little, your interests prospered ; but when 
they read more, they began to decay. To sum up all, that 
Book is the one which, more than any other, has raised against 
us those whirlwinds and tempests, whereby we are almost 
swept away ; and in fact, if any one examine it diligently, and 
then confronts therewith the practice of our Church, he will 
perceive the great discordance, and that our doctrine is utterly 
different from, and often contrary to it, which thing, if the 
people understand, they will not cease their clamor against us 



438 Doomed Religions. 

till all be divulged, and then we shall become an object of 
universal scorn and hatred. Wherefore, even these few pages 
must be put away, but with considerable wariness and caution, 
lest so doing raise greater uproars and tumults.* 

Now read the Divine injunction: "Search the 
Scriptures ;" "All Scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and is profitable for doctrine," etc. ; "We have 
also a more sure word of prophecy ; whereunto ye do 
well that ye take heed ;" " The holy Scriptures, which 
are able to make thee wise unto salvation." We must 
never forget that Rome anathematizes the Bible. 

When the Bible has been rejected there is no limit 
to pride and usurpation and blasphemy. The follow- 
ing, selected from the items in the Dictatus of Pope 
Gregory VII., will exhibit the arrogance of Rome : 

Dictatus of Pope Gregory VII. 

2. The Roman Pontiff alone should of right be styled Uni- 
versal Bishop. 

3. He alone can depose and restore bishops. 

4. The pope's legate, though of inferior rank, is in councils 
to take place above all bishops, and may pronounce sentence 
of deposition against them. 

6. No man ought to live in the same house with persons ex- 
communicated by him. 

7. It is lawful for him only to make new laws, when the 
necessity of the times requires it, to found new churches, to 
turn a canonry into an abbey, to divide rich bishoprics, and 
to unite poor ones. 

8. He alone may wear the imperial ornaments. 



* Imp. Library at Paris. It Ijas also been verified by comparison 
with the original in British Museum. 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 439 

9. All persons should kiss the pope's feet, and his only. 

10. His name alone should be mentioned in the churches ; 
that is, in public prayer. 

12. It is lawful for him to depose emperors. 

17. No rules are to be held as binding, nor any book as 
canonical, without his authority. 

18. His sentence may be reversed by no man, and he alone 
may reverse the sentences of all others. 

19. He ought to be judged by no man. 

20. No man should dare to condemn the man who appeals 
to the Holy See. 

22. The Roman Church has never erred, nor, as Scripture 
testifies, will it ever err. 

24. It is lawful, by his command and permission, for sub- 
jects to accuse their rulers. 

26. He who does not agree with the Church of Rome is not 
to be regarded as a true Catholic. 

27. He (the pope) may absolve the subjects of wicked 
princes from their oaths of allegiance.* 

In the presence of such assumptions, still stoutly 
maintained, we are prepared to accept the great fact 
of history that 

EOMANISM IS ONLY BAPTIZED HEATHENISM. 

Hew down every thing in Romanism that does not 
conform to the Gospel doctrines and simplicity, and 
you will have cut away only a mass of heathen cere- 
monies and rights. 

Holy water, incense, and lighted candles, that 
so constantly figure in Romish services, are all 
borrowed from heathenism. Christianity, after it 

♦Cramp's "Text-Book of Popery," p. 11. 



440 Doomed Keligions. 

ascended tlie throne of the Caesars, stooped to conquer 
the heathen, and embraced the heathen ceremonies. 
It went over to heathenism to secure dominion. 
Homer, Euripides, Virgil, Ovid, and Juvenal teach 
us those heathen services where processions, incense, 
holy water, and lighted candles are prominent. 
Flagellations are not of Christian origin. The vota- 
ries of Isis sought peace in this way centuries before 
there was any Romanism. False miracles were the 
principal stock of the old heathen priests. Offerings 
of gold and costly work and expensive garments were 
devoted to deities, and hung upon their shrines as 
thank-offerings for deliverances, long before Home 
sought to enrich her altars and temples in this way. 

Not only do the great Greek and Roman classics 
abound with references to these heathen ceremonies 
but even the Chinese, in their paganism, have all 
these ceremonies. "Williams's "Middle Kingdom," 
and Doolittle's " Social Life of the Chinese," inform 
us concerning the Buddhist priests, that they take 
vows of celibacy, wear coarse raiment, shave the 
head, wear a robe, burn candles, use incense, pros- 
trate themselves before their shrines, often live as 
hermits, sell indulgences, to be available in Hades, 
use rosaries, pray in an unknown tongue, pray for 
the dead, pray to saints and intercessors, especially 
to the virgin and child. They have monasteries and 
nunneries, works of supererogation, services of chants, 



- Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 441 

sprinkling of holy water, religious fasts and feasts, 
processions, worship images, pictures, and relics. It 
is no wonder that the Buddhists call " Romanism the 
devil's counterfeit of the true religion." 

When we add to all these ceremonial thefts of 
Romanism from heathenism, the long list of other 
embezzlements, such as the appropriation of statues, 
temples, inscriptions, and the substitution of trans- 
formed names of saints for the more honorable names 
of the old heathen gods, it is hard for men or angels 
to see a saving difference between Romanism and the 
older heathen system. 

The temple of Vesta, near the Tiber, mentioned by 
Horace, now belongs to the "Madonna of the Sun / " 
that of Fortuna Virilis by Mary the Egyptian ; 
that of Saturn by St. Adrian / that of Romulus and 
Remits by Cosmas and Damianus (brothers.) The 
church of Apollinaris stands where stood the temple 
of Apollo The church of Martino stands on the site 
of the temple of Mars* It is the Divine order that 
we must put off the old man, and put on the new ; but 
Rome has not done either. The most she has done 
is to maltreat the old ceremonies, deities, and tem- 
ples, by deforming their uses, character, and names. 

Running through a multitude and sprinkling them 
with a little salt water would transform them enough 

* Condensed from Dr. Middleton, as produced in Shaw's " Roman 
Conflict." 



442 Doomed Religions. 

to transfer them from one of these heathen systems 
of service to the other. 

Romanism, being only sprinkled heathenism, must 
not he expected to do a saving work. It does not save 
from much that is bad, nor to much that is good. The 
sad criminal record of Roman Catholic countries may 
horrify, but ought not to surprise, Christendom. 

Rev. R. Seymour says, in the " Christian World," 
1869:* 

The yearly average of murders in all Italy — in that land 
where the Church of Eome is supreme and without a rival — 
is 1,968, so that every year there are left murdered in cold 
blood more men and women and children than often fall on 
our most blood-stained battle-fields ! And this in the lard of 
convents and nunneries and confessionals — in the land where, 
of all else on the wide surface of God's creation, we might ex- 
pect the full and happy development of all the restraints which 
the Church of Eome imposes upon crime — in the land where 
priests and monks and nuns exceed a hundred and twenty 
thousand ! The following are the results in all the several Ro- 
man Catholic countries, as contrasted with Protestant England : 

Roman Catholic Ireland 19 to the million. 

" " Belgium 18 " " 

" " France 31 " " 

" " Austria 36 " " 

" " Bavaria 68 « " 

" " Sardinia 20 " " 

" " Lombardy 45 " " 

" " Tuscany 56 M " 

The Papal States 113 " " 

Roman Catholic Sicily 90 " " 

Naples 174 " " 

Protestant England 4 " " 

* Shaw's " Roman Conflict," pp. 338-342. 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 443 

These bloody figures impeach the apostate Church 
before the bar of common justice. 

A parliamentary return for Scotland shows the fol- 
lowing percentage of criminals : 

Non-Catholic population, only a little over 7 in 1,000. 
Catholic population, over 37 in 1,000. 

In 1870 — another index : 

Protestant countries in Europe, averaged illegitimate births, 
88 in 1,000. 
Roman Catholic countries, 145 in 1,000. 

Romanism, thriving where crime so thrives, has 
proved destructive to families and nations. Scientific 
speculation at present is veering over from "climate" 
as the universal explanation of every moral and spir- 
itual phenomena, both positive and negative, to "race" 
And many good people are finding in that the final 
cause of these changes. Some ask, Is it possible to 
reach the Latin races with a saving Gospel ? Can the 
Chinese be spiritually developed into Christians ? 
The Gospel, like the Redeemer, is for all. Jesus 
tasted "death for every man" All races have a 
right to the tree whose leaves are " for the healing 
of the nations." 

The Gospel knows neither race nor latitude. Ire- 
land and Scotland are at the bottom and top of civ- 
ilization, pushed down and up in the same latitude 
only by their religion. Ireland led civilization when 
the Scots were barbarians. They have now changed 



444 Doomed Religions. 

places. The south of France has produced a vigorous 
Protestantism. The Reformation of the sixteenth 
century rose in Spain. 

The Roman Catholic Laveleye says the European 
nations are too much mingled to make a race-test in 
growth. The spring is in faith. Yet Protestantism 
thrives and Romanism declines. This is not race. 
Spain, France, and Italy were once free. Protestant 
Latin races surpass even Catholic German races. 

In the Canton of Appenzell the extremes of civili- 
zation are found in the same race, climate, and envi- 
ronments. They differ only in faith. Spain ruled 
Europe ; the Netherlands were feeble. Spain chose 
the Inquisition ; the Netherlands, the Bible. Spain 
is the pauper of the nations ; the Netherlands trade 
in all seas, and are honored every-where. The earth 
furnishes no exception to the rule that Protestantism 
thrives and Romanism declines, irrespective of blood. 
The two faiths have experimented among the Span- 
ish-American people in New Mexico. When Rev. T. 
Harwood first visited Gallina and Ciruilita, he had to 
do as all strangers did — take his horse into his sleep- 
ing-room, and chain up his buggy with a padlock. 
Now he visits in these places the congregations, under 
native converted Spanish preachers, and leaves his 
horse out in the pasture, and movable things in his 
buggy with perfect safety. In other towns, under 
papal instruction, the old style of morals prevails. 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 445 

An example among the Pueblo Indians, from re- 
port of Eev. T. B. Wood, LL.D. : 

The town-building, agricultural Indians, found in Arizona 
and New Mexico, live in regularly built towns, called peablos. 
These are twenty-six in number, and count in all but ten thou- 
sand six hundred souls, a mere remnant of a once numerous 
people. Apeublo is more like a citadel than a town. But 
when the Spaniards took the country they forced upon them 
the Spanish language, the Romish religion, and the use of 
domestie animals. But these and all other changes wrought 
in them, during three centuries of Spanish (and Mexican) dom- 
ination, are merely superficial. They hold tenaciously to their 
ancestral language, religion, and customs. The Romish priest- 
craft holds a nominally superior but practically inferior con- 
trol, and the two religions exist totheegr, and yet distinct, as 
if perfectly compatible with each other, just about as the two 
languages do. Iron tools have improved their ladders, but not 
their character. The use of animals facilitates their physical 
subsistence, but in nowise modifies their moral condition. 

They have been under the Saxon domination now for one 
generation. A few superficial changes are taking place. The 
English is being added to their stock of languages. The 
United States army keeps the savages at bay, so that many of 
the peublos have introduced doors into their walls, and in 
some cases windows. The sale of their pottery to curiosity 
seekers has become so great as to make its manufacture an 
industry with them. But no tendency is seen in them to 
modify their peculiar race character. 

The little peublo of Tesuque, with but a hundred inhab- 
itants, old and young, situated but three leagues from Sante 
Fe, where it has been overrun with visitors from the days of 
the Spanish conquest till now, is no exception. Some of the 
larger peublos^ that have been almost run through by the rail- 
roads, show no tendency to become exceptions. 

And yet there is one striking and significant exception. It 



446 Doomed Religions. 

is found in the peublo of Laguna, the fourth in size among 
them all, and, till lately, the most isolated. There the 
changes are wonderful. Carpets, stoves, four-wheeled wag- 
ons, well-regulated and expanding trade, a weekly newspaper 
in Spanish, general aspiration after improvement of every 
kind, are the external symptoms of an internal uplifting that 
is in progress. What is the uplifting power ? A Gospel 
leaven, still small in amount, but sufficient to work and show 
its power. 

In 1852 a Baptist missionary, Rev. Samuel Gorman, gained 
access to that peublo, and lived and labored there for years. 
When the Baptist work was withdrawn from that territory he 
had but little to show for his labors. But he left the leaven 
in the lump. In course of time the Presbyterian Church as- 
sumed charge of all those Indians, and sent missionaries to 
that peublo. The way was open and ready for them, their en- 
trance was the beginning of a new order of things. 

Meanwhile the Gospel has been almost totally excluded from 
the other peublos by the Romish priest-craft. In them no up- 
lifting power can be introduced. 

Years of experimenting with schools show that these cannot 
meet expectations where the Gospel is wanting. The case of 
that people is hopeless unless the spell of priest-craft can be 
broken, and the Gospel be brought to bear upon them. 

South America furnishes the ripe fruit of three 
centuries of undisturbed Romanism. 'No Protest- 
antism has interfered. The result is the blighting 
of the land. The rich agriculturists are, many of 
them, strangers to the taste of bread. Owners of 
vast herds never have butter or cheese. The very- 
garden of the earth is a lair for bandits and outlaws. 
Nothing thrives. With mines of fabulous wealth, 
the people live in wretched want. Ores that were 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 447 

utilized under the Incas are now carried nine thou- 
sand miles to a smelter. Hides go one fourth round 
the globe to be tanned. Montevideo is embellished 
with Italian marble set in lime, her only use for her 
home marble. Mahogany, floating down the rivers, 
meets chairs from the United States steaming up the 
rivers. The ancient pagan natives made cotton and 
alpaca enough to clothe the nation, but the papist 
natives now send to Europe for a poorer quality of 
clothing. South America sends her wool away to be 
washed and woven. She can do nothing for herself 
since she bowed to the Roman priests, now very gen- 
erally degenerated into the lowest and most degraded 
specimens of brutality, indolence, filthiness, and im- 
morality known to history. This poverty and deso- 
lation of this rich land is not a question of soil, or 
climate, or blood. Spain once had the enterprise of 
the world, and her blood is good. Her malady is 
one of had faith. North America owes it to God, 
to herself, and to South America, to give to South 
America the Gospel, and so lift her up into a new 
life. This can be done by giving her a regenerating 
religion, which requires a converted priesthood. 

The truth concerning South America is set forth 
in the following extracts from the report of Rev. 
T. B. Wood, LL.D., as Superintendent of the 
Methodist Episcopal Missions in South-east South 
America : 



448 Doomed Keligions. 

All over South America, the priests are, as a rule, con- 
temptably ignorant and notoriously corrupt. Many of them 
are moreover vulgar, filthy, and generally vile, avaricious, 
haughty, oppressive, and hypocritical. Of course there are 
exceptions, but the rule stands true. The majority of them 
would be hooted out of any decent community in the United 
States, for pretending to be ministers of religion— even the 
Romish religion. 

But in South America, so debauched is public conscience, 
that such pretentious wretches, instead of being hooted out, as 
repugnant alike to God and man, are allowed to assume the 
rank of a superior class, and millions of honest souls bow 
down to them, as to God, for forgiveness of sins and a dim hope 
of salvation. And not merely the ignorant and low, but the 
learned and cultured, have knelt in the streets, as well as in 
the confession box, to do them homage. To such lengths does 
priest-craft go in its degrading oppression of mankind. 

The Status of Woman. 

Spanish chivalry gave woman a lofty place in society. That 
place she occupies to-day in South America. It is an ideal and 
artificial position that requires her to act a noble and romantic 
part in life. She is treated with corresponding care. The 
circles in which her accomplishments shine are organized with 
sole reference to her, the male element assuming a decidedly 
secondary position. 

Intellectual attainments in woman are highly esteemed 
throughout South America. The highest dignity of the 
Spanish woman is reached in advanced age, when a patri- 
archal character is added to her other claims to deference, and 
children and grandchildren obey her commands. 

But the admirable position occupied by the South American 
woman is like the top of a lofty pedestal. It places her where 
she cannot move in any direction without a fatal fall. ' Social 
custom environs her with demands and restrictions so in- 
exorable that only extraordinary spirits can fulfill or evade 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 449 

them, without committiDg social suicide, or stumbling into 
moral ruin. But vastly worse than this, the yriest-craft en- 
virons her like the air she breathes, and amid its whirlwinds 
of wickedness she has nothing to hold her from being precipi- 
tated to fearful depths. 

The innocence of pious girlhood has absolutely no defense 
possible against the ravenous propensities that lie in wait for 
it in the confessional. If an anxious mother wishes to save her 
daughters from this fiendish power, what can she do ? Shall 
she warn them of their danger, an. I train them to beware! 
Many a mother has tried that. But that is like warning them 
that God is wicked, and they must beware of him, for the 
priest is to them in the place of God. Moreover, the degree 
of wariness required to outwit the demon in the confession 
box is beyond the capacity of any mother to impart or inex- 
pert daughter to practice. Any attempts in that direction 
require a systematic training in falsehood, such as becomes of 
itself a moral ruin for the daughter. Shall the daughter, 
then, be kept away from the confessional ? Many parents 
have tried that. But that means to keep her from God, from 
the forgiveness of sins, from her only hope of salvation. She 
sees all other girls going to confession, and cannot under- 
stand why she does not go. Powerful pressure comes on her 
from every side to make her go. Religious instinct within 
her impels her to go. Parental authority, without giving 
reasons, suffices for a time to restrain her, but soon or later 
she must know the reasons, and when she learns them they 
shatter her faith in all that is called holy. This shipwreck 
of faith drowns her moral nature in irreligion. Between these 
two awful alternatives there is one other — equally awful — ta 
let things take their course ! Nearly every mother seeks by one 
of the two other ways to keep her daughters from this ; but 
nearly every grandmother, in despair, would advise simply this.. 

Bloodthirsty beasts are sometimes merciful, and even priest- 
craft lets some of its victims escape, especially if they seem to 
be making no effort to do so. But if it detects them trving 
29 



450 Doomed Religions. 

to evade it or resist it, it plots their ruin with malicious and 
unrelenting purpose. The blood of victimized womanhood 
cries aloud from the ground all over South America, against 
the blasphemous system that perpetuates this state of affairs 
in the name of Christ ! 

And to this desperate state of affairs the other evil elements 
that are rife in a society where the restraints of the Gospel are 
unknown, and the distressing hopelessness of woman's con- 
dition in those lands will be seen. Among the lower classes, 
especially in the rural districts, legitimate marriage is the ex- 
ception and not the rule. An official enrollment of the chil- 
dren of school age of all classes in the City of Rosario de Sante 
Fe showed a minority whose fathers were reported. The bap- 
tismal records of hundreds of parishes all over the continent 
show the same dismal state of affairs. Women who have to 
support themselves are ground down by social custom which 
forbids them all but a very few occupations. Those who do 
not have to earn their living are, by the same social custom, 
condemned to idleness. In such soil vice thrives as in a hot- 
bed. The chivalrous manners and customs serve as an artistic 
covering for such a state of society, much like the glass roof 
of a green-house. Every thing seems so nice, so appropriate, 
so well adapted to every thing else, with the natural and the 
artificial so admirably combined, that it really seems as if 
things ought to oe just at they are, and remain s*o forever. 

.The growth of the Roman hierarchy through the 
centuries demonstrates the existence and action of 
a supernatural and superintending spirit of evil as 
clearly as the growth of Christianity demonstrates 
the existence and action of a supreme supernatural 
spirit of righteousness. 

In the presence of these appalling facts there can 
remain no doubt about the great evils of State 



Lifeless and Corrupt Christianity. 451 

Churches and the heavy responsibilities that rest 
upon self-supporting Protestantism concerning the 
lands where religion is chained like a slave to the 
chariot of State. Methodism has a mission to all 
lands cursed with a State religion. She was called 
into existence by the evils of this unholy union. 
The reasons that called Wesley to make room for a 
new evangel call his followers into all lands with 
spiritual environments similar to those that nourished 
him. In going with* new life, even into Protestant 
countries, let us remember the words of Lady Louisa 
Le Poer Trench, sister of the last Archbishop of 
Tuam : " When our Church [the English Establish- 
ment] was almost gone to Romanism, the Wesleyans 
saved it; and when our ministry was asleep, yours 
awoke them. Put me down as a life-subscriber to 
your missions." 



452 D 



OOMED IXliLIGIONS. 



LIST OF BOOKS ON THE SUBJECTS OF THE 
PRECEDING ESSAYS. 



General. 



Religion in China. A Brief Account of the Three Religions of the 

Chinese, etc, J. Edkins. 
Ten Great -Religions. J. Freeman Clarke. 
Sacred Books of the East. Edited by Max Midler. 
I. Religions of the World. II. Languages of the Parsee Scriptures. 

III. The Zend-Avesta ; or, the Scripture of the Parsees. IV. The 

Zoroastrian Religion, as to its Origin and Development. F. D. 

Maurice. 

Mohammedanism. 

Mohammedanism in India. H. C. Bowen, 

Life of Mahomet. Bush. 

Translation of the Koran. Sale. 

Life of Mahomet and History of Islamism. Muir. 

Mahomet and Mohammedanism. R. B. Smith. 

The Koran and the Bible ; or, Islam and Christianity. J. M. Arnold. 

Faith of Islam. Sells. 

History of Mohammedanism. C. Mills. 

Islamism. Neale. 

Mohammed. Speeches and Table-Talk. Chosen and translated by 

S. Lane-Poole. 
The Koran. Translated and Edited by J. M. Rod well. 
Islam and its Founder. J. W. H. Stobart. 
The Coran. Its Composition and Teaching, and the Testimony it 

bears to Holy Scriptures. Sir William Muir. 



List of Books. 453 

5be Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud ; or, Biblical Legends of the 

Mussulman. G. Weil. 
The Respective Peculiarities in Creeds of the Mohammedan and the 

Hindu which stand in the way of Conversion to the Christian Faith. 

Ernest L. Fiske. 
Controversial Tracts on Christianity and Mohammedanism. S. Lee. 
Ifoliammedan Religion Explained. J. B. Macbride. 
History of Mohammedanism and its Sects. W. C. Taylor. 

Brahmanism. 

life and Religion of the Hindus. J. G. Gangooly. 

Christianity and Hinduism and Various Question of Indian Religion 
and Literature. Rowland Williams. 

Essays and Lectures on the Religion of the Hindus. H. H. Wilson. 

'The Theogony of the Hindus. Bjornstjerna. 

Oriental Religions and their Relations to Universal Religion. S. John- 
son. 

Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as Illustrated by the 
Religions of India. Max Milller. 

Oriental Illustrations of the Sacred Scriptures, collected from the 
Customs and Literature of the Hindus. J. Roberts. 

A Hand-book of Sanskrit Literature. George Small. 

The Way, the Truth, and the Life. Lectures to Educated Hindus. 
J. H Seelye. 

Brahmo Samaj. Four Lectures. Babu Keshub Chunder Sen. 

The Cave Temples of India. James Fergussoii. 

The Bible in India ; Hindu Origin of Hebrew and Christian Revela- 
tion. L. Jacolliot. 

Jtfndu Philosophy. Davies. 

WifAu Mythology. Wilkins. 

The Religions of India. A. Barth. 

Hinduism. Monier Williams. 

Parseeism. 

The Parsees. D. Framjee. 

Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsees. M. Haug. 
Oriental Mysticism : the Suhistic and Unitarian Theosophy of the Per- 
sians. L. H. Palmer. 



454 Doomed Keligions. 

The Religion of the Parsees. H. Lord. 

The Parsee Religion. John Nelson. 

Tree and Serpent Worship ; Mythology and Art in India, J. Fer. 

gusson. 
Avesta. The Religious Books of the Parsees ; from Prof. Spiegel's 

German Translation of the Original Manuscript. Arthur Henry 

Bleeck. 

Buddhism. 

The Wheel of the Law. H. Alabaster. 

The Light of Asia. Edwin Arnold. 

Origin and History of Buddhism. J. d'Alwis. 

Catena of Buddhist Scriptures. Beal. 

Legends and Theories of Buddhism. Hardy. 

History and Doctrines of Buddhism. Upham. 

Manual of Buddhism in its Modern Development. Translated from the 
Singhalese. R. S. Hardy. 

Sketch of Buddhism. B. H. Hodgson. 

Buddha and his Doctrines. 0. Kistner . 

Chinese Buddhism. A Volume of Sketches, Historical and Critical 
J. Edkins. 

Buddhism in Tibet, with an Account of the Buddhist Systems preced- 
ing it in India. E. Schlagentweit. 

The Indian Saint. Mills. 

Buddha and Early Buddhism. A. Lillie. 

Buddhism and Buddhist Pilgrims. Max Miiller. 

Hand-book for the Student of Chinese Buddhism. R. S. Hardy. 

Buddhism. Being a Sketch of the Life and Teaching of Gautama, the 
Buddha. By J. W. Rhys Davids. 

Taoism. 

Religions of China. W. H. Channing. 
Social Life of the Chinese. J. Doolittle. 
Life Among the Chinese. R. S. Maclay. 
Middle Kingdom. S. W. Williams. 
Life and Works of Mencius. J. Legge. 
Confucianism and Taoism. R. K. Douglas. 
Christinnitv in China and Japan. E. R. Hue. 



List of Books. 455 

Confucianism. 

Confucius, his Life and Teaching. J. Legge. 

The Religions of China. Confucianism and Taoism Described and 

Compared with Christianity. J. Legge. 
Sacred Books of China. The Texts of Confucianism. Translated by 

James Legge. 
Confucianism and Taoism. R. K. Douglas. 



THE END. 



0Ll 



